CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS

Domestic Violence

Dari Taylor: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what monitoring is undertaken of the handling by the courts of domestic violence cases.

Bridget Prentice: Responsibility for inspection of court administration and for CAFCASS passed to the new HM Inspectorate of Court Administration in April 2005.
	Following a thematic review of the handling of domestic violence issues by CAFCASS and the administration of family courts, the Inspectorate published its report "Domestic Violence, Safety and Family Proceedings" on 11 October 2005.
	My Department posted its "Overall Response" on the HM Courts Service website and is finalising a detailed Action Plan. The primary aim of the Action Plan is to ensure that HMCS procedures reflect safety concerns, so that the experiences and fears of domestic violence survivors are recognised. We will achieve that by, among other things:
	mapping, in consultation with key stakeholders, front-line court staff and the judiciary, current provision of information and special facilities and developing a strategy to ensure that vulnerable court users are properly informed of special facilities as early as possible in their case;
	reviewing health and safety policies and risk assessment procedures for all courts to ensure appropriate safety measures are taken to protect vulnerable parties as well as staff and judiciary;
	reviewing staff training to include awareness-raising of domestic violence to equip staff to deal appropriately with vulnerable victims and witnesses.
	A copy of the report have been placed in the Library of both Houses.

Electoral Register

Lynda Waltho: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs if she will place a duty on electoral registration officers to have a complete register.

Harriet Harman: The Electoral Administration Bill, introduced on 11 October, includes a new duty on electoral registration officers to take all necessary steps to ensure comprehensive registers. Those steps include the following specific measures:
	(a) Sending the canvass form more than once to any address;
	(b) Making house to house inquires on more than one occasion;
	(c) Making contact by such other means as the registration officer thinks appropriate with persons who do not have an entry in a register;
	(d) Inspecting any records held by any person which the registration officer is permitted to inspect; and
	(e) Providing training to others carrying out the duty.

Electoral System

Keith Vaz: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what performance standards the Government will put in place on (a) security of and (b) access to the electoral system.

Harriet Harman: The Electoral Administration Bill, introduced on 11 October 2005, makes provision for the Electoral Commission to set performance standards for electoral registration officers, returning officers and counting officers at a referendum. The Commission will be required to consult the Secretary of State and others when determining the standards to be set, and must lay a copy of the published standards before both Houses of Parliament.

Judicial Appointments

Keith Vaz: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many (a) district judges and (b) immigration judges are (i) Asian, (ii) black and (iii) women.

Harriet Harman: The number of (a) district judges and (b) immigration judges who are (i) Asian, (ii) black and (iii) women can be found in the following tables. The number of judges in post who are of mixed or unknown ethnicity has also been included for clarity. The figures for district judges (which can also be found on the DCA website) and those for the immigration judges, have been obtained from the DCA Judicial Database.
	
		District judges currently in post
		
			 Judicial post Asian Black Mixed Unknown Female Total number in post 
		
		
			 District judge (civil) 5 0 4 30 79 417 
			 District judge (family division) 0 0 0 1 8 18 
			 District judge (magistrates courts) 3 0 1 2 27 129 
			 Total 8 0 5 33 114 564 
		
	
	
		Immigration judges currently in post
		
			 Judicial post Asian Black Mixed Unknown Female Total number in post 
		
		
			 President of tribunal 0 0 0 0 0 1 
			 Deputy president 0 0 0 0 1 2 
			 Senior immigration judge 2 2 0 0 9 34 
			 Salaried immigration judge 4 6 3 2 38 123 
			 Designated immigration judge 1 0 1 1 5 27 
			 Fee paid immigration judge 18 12 5 10 116 388 
			 Total 25 20 9 13 169 575

Judicial Appointments

Keith Vaz: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many persons applied for the post of Chairman of the Judicial Appointments Commission.

Harriet Harman: 48 people applied for the post of Chairman of the Judicial Appointments Commission. The following table gives the gender and, where known, the ethnicity of the applicants.
	
		
			  Applicants 
		
		
			 Total number of applicants 48 
			   
			 Percentage  
			 Male 58 
			 Female 42 
			 White 78 
			 Asian 14 
			 Chinese 2 
			 Non-respondent/unknown 6

Judicial Appointments

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs if she will make a statement on the Department's progress in promoting judicial diversity.

Harriet Harman: The Lord Chancellor launched the judicial diversity programme in March, following a public consultation. The programme focuses on three main areas: encouraging applications from and raising awareness among groups currently under-represented in the judiciary; removing barriers to appointment; and ensuring that the way the judicial office operates encourages a more diverse judiciary, for example, by increasing opportunities for flexible working.
	On 13 July the Lord Chancellor announced his intention to legislate to widen eligibility to apply for judicial appointment and progress on other steps he was taking to increase diversity, 13 July 2005, Official Report, column 26WS. He will make a further announcement shortly.

Jury Service

David Drew: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs if she will bring forward proposals to remove the upper age bar on jury service.

Harriet Harman: The Government agree with Lord Justice Auld's finding in his "Review of the Criminal Courts" that there is no compelling case for changing the present age limit of 70 for jury service.

Jury Service

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what was the total cost of jurors' expenses in England between 2001 and 2005.

Harriet Harman: Juror expenses which constituted loss of earnings allowance, travel and subsistence amounted to:
	
		
			  £ 
		
		
			 2001–02 33,785,360 
			 2002–03 40,105,495 
			 2003–04 38,742,968 
			 2004–05 37,046,603

Polling Station Guidance

Lynda Waltho: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs if she will provide guidance in polling stations in languages other than English.

Harriet Harman: My Department introduced the Electoral Administration Bill on 11 October. It includes a clause aimed at improving access to voting for all by providing for guidance to voters at polling stations to be made in languages other than English and Welsh, as well as graphical representations.

CULTURE MEDIA AND SPORT

British Olympic Association (Chairman)

Hugh Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport pursuant to the answer of 14 October 2005, Official Report, column 605W, on the British Olympic Association Chairman, which candidate approached her; and which candidate approached the Chair of UK Sport.

Richard Caborn: holding answer 20 October 2005
	As I stated in my answer of 14 October 2005, Official Report, column 605W, I was approached by a candidate for the post of British Olympic Association (BOA) chairman who asked his opinion on the nature and scope of the role. I can confirm that the identity of that candidate was Mr. David Hemery who was publicly named as one of the two candidates to stand in the election for the new chairman post of the BOA.
	It would not be appropriate for me to release the name of the person who approached the Chair of UK Sport, since this person has not been publicly identified as a potential candidate for this post.

British Olympic Association (Chairman)

Hugh Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what discussions took place between Ministers in her Department and UK Sport on the recent election to the chairmanship of the British Olympic Association.

Richard Caborn: I can confirm that there were no specific meetings, telephone conversations or exchanges of correspondence between Ministers in the Department and UK Sport on the recent election to the chairmanship of the British Olympic Association. The topic did arise from time to time in general conversation between myself and the chair of UK Sport, as a matter of interest regarding elite sport in this country.

British Olympic Association (Chairman)

Hugh Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport pursuant to the answer of 14 October 2005, Official Report, column 605, on BOA Chairman, whether officials discussed the election of the new chairman of the British Olympic Association with (a) candidates for the post, (b) potential candidates and (c) voting members.

Richard Caborn: I can confirm that my officials did not discuss the election of the new chairman of the British Olympic Association (BOA) with either candidates for the post, potential candidates or voting members of the BOA prior to that election.

Internet Access (Gravesham)

Adam Holloway: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what estimate she has made of the proportion of households in Gravesham that have had access to the internet in each of the last 10 years.

Alun Michael: I have been asked to reply.
	It is not possible to answer this question as information is not available in the form requested, but the Office for National Statistics stated, in the first quarter of 2005, 60 per cent. of households in the UK (13.1 million) 1 currently have access to the internet from home. Broadband is available to 99.3 per cent. 2 of households in the UK and has been taken up by over 8.1 million of them. 3
	The UK has made great strides in recent years and now has the most extensive broadband market in the G7 and is third for competitiveness, closing the gap on Canada in second place. 4
	Sources:
	1 Office for National Statistics—Internet Access—August 2005.
	2 Ovum—UK Broadband Status Report—Q2 2005.
	3 Ofcom Communication Market Report—August 2005—Quarterly Update.
	4 Ovum—International Broadband Market Comparisons—Q1 2005.

National Lottery

Hugo Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the total value of National Lottery ticket sales in the Isle of Man has been in each year since 1994.

Richard Caborn: Ticket sales for the National Lottery in the Isle of Man did not commence until 1999. Information for the subsequent years is as follows:
	
		
			  Amount (£) 
		
		
			 1999–2000 2,092,766 
			 2000–01 5,570,281 
			 2001–02 5,779,743 
			 2002–03 5,802,121 
			 2003–04 6,056,134 
			 2004–05 6,155,452

National Lottery

Hugo Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what is the current balance of Lottery funds held in the National Lottery Distribution Fund on behalf of the Millennium Commission.

Richard Caborn: The Millennium Commission's current balance held in the National Lottery Distribution Fund is £83 million, of which £67 million has been committed to existing grant programmes and for operating costs. The Millennium Commission remains in operation, and Commissioners retain discretion to offer further grants where they believe this to be appropriate.
	Under the provisions of the National Lottery Bill, the Big Lottery Fund as successor body, would take on any remaining balance and funding commitments.

Olympic Games

John Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will list the public capital investment projects outside the south east which will be made as a result of the UK gaining the 2012 Olympics.

Tessa Jowell: The bid folder presented to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in November 2004 set out details of capital investment projects necessary to stage the games. This can be found at
	http://www.london2012.org/en/news/publications/Candidatefile/
	The majority of investment will take place in the Lower Lea Valley and surrounding areas in keeping with IOC requirements to deliver a compact and cost effective games that builds where possible on existing infrastructure.

Premier League Football (TV Rights)

Theresa May: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport pursuant to the answer of 6 May 2005, Official Report, columns 265–66W, on premier league football (TV rights), what recent discussions her Department (a) has had and (b) plans to have with (i) Ofcom, (ii) the Office of Fair Trading, (iii) the Department of Trade and Industry and (iv) the premier league on its role in working with the European Commission on the matter of deciding the structure of FA premier league television broadcasting rights from season 2007–08 onwards.

Richard Caborn: Ministers and officials from both the Department for Culture Media and Sport and the Department for Trade and Industry have remained in close contact with the FA premier league, Ofcom, and OFT over the premier league broadcasting rights issue.
	On all occasions the Government have made clear that this is a competition issue in which the Government have no locus to intervene.

DEFENCE

Armed Forces Personnel (Northern Ireland)

Peter Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many armed forces personnel were stationed in Northern Ireland in each of the last 15 years.

Adam Ingram: The strength by posted location for UK regular armed forces is given in Tri-Service Publication (TSP) 10, a copy of which is held in the Library of the House. TSP 10 was reinstated in February 2005, following its suspension due to concerns over data quality which necessitated a review of the source data and computer programs used to produce it. Data prior to this are not comparable due to changes in methodology. As at 1 April 2005 there were 7,060 UK regular forces personnel posted to Northern Ireland. In addition, there were 2,010 full-time and 1,210 part-time members of the Royal Irish Regiment Home Service deployed in Northern Ireland.
	Figures for the number of army personnel deployed in Northern Ireland from 1969 to 2005 are given in Table 7.4 of United Kingdom Defence Statistics 2005, a copy of which is available in the Library of the House. Comparable figures for the naval service and Royal Air Force are not held centrally.

Asian Earthquake

Michael Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what resources his Department had made available as of 11 October to India and Pakistan following the Asian earthquake.

Adam Ingram: holding answer 17 October 2005
	The Department for International Development (DFID) is the lead Government Department for the United Kingdom response to the Pakistan relief effort. The Ministry of Defence is in close consultation with DFID about possible UK military assistance and is scoping a range of potential contributions.
	The MOD has offered the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) the use of a C-130 Hercules aircraft based in Afghanistan. The MOD plans to use this aircraft to fly 3,150 MOD Halal ration packs and some bottled water to Islamabad for the World Food Programme, as requested by DFID. The UK currently contributes four C-130s and a Ground Handling Team to the NATO Response Force which may be called upon to support the relief effort. One UK officer travelled to Islamabad on 13 October as part of a six-person Operational Liaison Reconnaissance Team (OLRT) scoping the options for NATO assistance.

Avian Influenza

Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has made for the deployment of personnel to the prison estate in the case of an avian influenza epidemic.

Adam Ingram: None.

Eurofighter

Michael Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the cost of the Eurofighter was in terms of (a) unit cost, (b) support costs and (c) operating costs for (i) 2003, (ii) 2004 and (iii) 2005.

Adam Ingram: Unit Production Costs (UPC) for Typhoon are published in the Ministry of Defence Major Projects Report (MPR). The UPCs as at 31 March 2003 (MPR 2003) and 31 March 2004 (MPR 04) were £56.8 million and £49.1 million respectively. The Typhoon UPC for 2005 will be published in MPR 2005 shortly.
	Support costs for the Typhoon programme cover the provision of facilities and equipment used to support and maintain the aircraft fleet. Expenditure in financial years 2003–04 and 2004–05 was £190 million and £223 million respectively.
	Typhoon operating costs relate to Typhoons in service with the RAF and are increasing with the number of aircraft entering into service. Expenditure in financial years 2003–04 and 2004–05 was some £33 million and £38 million respectively.

European Airlift Transport

Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether the UK will join the European Airlift Transport Co-ordination Cell.

Adam Ingram: The UK Ministry of Defence has been a member of a European Airlift organisation since its inception in 2001. It is currently called the European Airlift Centre (EAC). A number of changes are being proposed by various member nations. The UK's position is to re-inforce the effectiveness of the co-ordination function and to add in the co-ordination of other modes of transportation.

Helicopters

Lee Scott: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many AH-64 Apache helicopters have been delivered to the British Army.

Adam Ingram: 67 Apache AH MK1 helicopters have been delivered to the Ministry of Defence for use by the British Army.

Helicopters

Lee Scott: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many crews have been trained to operate the AH-64 Apache helicopters.

Adam Ingram: The Apache Attack Helicopter (AH) is crewed by two pilots. As at 31 October 2005 some 105 AH-trained pilots are expected to have been assigned to 9 Regt AAC, the School of Army Aviation, the Air Manoeuvres Training and Advisory Team and other organisations within the Army Air Corps.

Helicopters

Michael Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the level of serviceability of the helicopter fleet.

Adam Ingram: The number of helicopters available for use to support a planned force readiness is defined as the number of aircraft that are held in the Unit Operating Fleet (UOF) on Squadrons and flights, and those that are held in storage.
	Serviceability is a metric applied to helicopters allocated to the front line as part of the UOF. For the purposes of MOD reporting, a "serviceable" aircraft is defined as one that is used, is capable of being used or could be made ready for a period of two hours flying within a planned flying programme. An aggregated serviceability target level is agreed annually with the Front Line Commands. The target takes account of the expected availability of spares, maintenance personnel and the scheduled maintenance activity.
	During the year, aircraft from these fleets may be deployed on operations. The aim is always to exceed the serviceability target for those aircraft, and spares and personnel are prioritised to do so. However, focus on the deployed fleet can mean that the "whole fleet" serviceability target cannot be met.
	Serviceability for the operational fleet over the period June-August 2005 has been excellent: the serviceability of Merlin Mk 3 on Op Telic has been over 80 per cent.; the Lynx Mk3 onboard warships has averaged 82 per cent. and the Lynx 7/9 over 70 per cent. This is precisely what our policies are designed to achieve.
	Serviceability achievements against the whole year targets for MOD fleets during the period April-June 2005–06 are shown in the following table:
	
		
			   Percentage 
			 Helicopter type Unit operating fleet(1) Target serviceability Achieved serviceability 
		
		
			 Apache AH MK 1 40 70 (2)64 
			 AgustaA109 3 66 71 
			 Chinook Mk 2/2a 27 70 (3)60 
			 Lynx Mk 7/9 75 66 (4)59 
			 Lynx Mk 3/8 47 66 66 
			 Merlin Mk 1 21 60 (5)45 
			 Merlin Mk 3 15 55 57 
			 Puma Mk 1 27 70 70 
			 Gazelle Mk 1 73 70 77 
			 Sea King Mk3/3a 17 78 (6)73 
			 Sea King Mk 4/6c 29 70 (7)61 
			 Sea King Mk 5/6/7 23 65 (8)60 
		
	
	(1) Number of aircraft at 1st Line, held by the Squadrons of FLC.
	(2) Unit serviceability gradually increases according to length of time operating Apache. 70 per cent. serviceability target will only become applicable to the whole fleet when 4 Regt. AAC is in third year of operating the aircraft. This is due in 2008.
	(3) Reduced due to focus on deployment and drawdown of aircraft from operations.
	(4) Effects of Fitting of Urgent Operational Requirements (UOR's) and modifications.
	(5) Increase in maintenance and replacement of tail rotor components.
	(6) Sea King 3/3a Search and Rescue (SAR) helicopters have a 100 per cent. serviceability target, while standby and training aircraft have lower targets which affects the statistics. SAR tasking is always met.
	(7) Trials and embodiment of UORs have affected levels.
	(8) Levels constrained by the availability of repair staff.

Helicopters

Peter Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many helicopters are in service in the (a) Army, (b) Royal Navy and (c) Royal Air Force, broken down by make and model.

Adam Ingram: The following table sets out the numbers of aircraft of each type held by the Ministry of Defence and shows the service that operates them, as at 31 July 2005. The fleet sizes quoted cover those aircraft expected to be flown. The fleet size does not include some aircraft that could return to the fleet, but are currently classified as un-repairable or redundant.
	
		
			 Helicopter type Service Fleet size 
		
		
			 Lynx Mk 3 RN 31 
			 Lynx Mk 7 RN 5 
			 Lynx Mk 8 RN 34 
			 Merlin Mk 1 RN 42 
			 Sea King Mk 4 RN 37 
			 Sea King Mk 5 RN 16 
			 Sea King Mk 6 RN 5 
			 Sea King Mk 6c RN 5 
			 Sea King Mk 7 RN 11 
			 Agusta A109 Army 4 
			 Apache AH MK 1 Army 67 
			 Gazelle Mk 1 Army 107 
			 Lynx Mk 7 Army 77 
			 Lynx Mk 9 Army 22 
			 Puma Mk 1 RAF 38 
			 Chinook Mk 2/2a RAF 40 
			 Merlin Mk 3 RAF 22 
			 Sea King Mk 3 RAF 19 
			 Sea King Mk 3 a RAF 6 
		
	
	In addition to the aircraft above, the Department contracts for commercially owned helicopters and the following table shows them broken down by service as at 31 July 2005.
	
		
			 Helicopter type Service Fleet size 
		
		
			 Dauphin RN 2 
			 Bell 212 Army 7 
			 Bell 412 RAF 15 
			 Squirrel RAF 37 
			 Twin Squirrel RAF 3

Helicopters

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  how many UK military helicopters have been involved in (a) relief operations and (b) other supporting roles in the earthquake zone in northern Pakistan and Kashmir;
	(2)  how many UK military helicopters were based in Afghanistan on 9 October, broken down by type.

Adam Ingram: holding answer 20 October 2005
	There were no UK military helicopters based in Afghanistan on 9 October 2005.
	DfID are the lead Department for co-ordinating the national relief effort in the earthquake zone. No UK military helicopters are currently involved. At DfID's request, however, the MOD intend to deploy three heavy lift CH-47 Chinook Helicopters, with accompanying personnel, for a four week period to support the Pakistan relief effort. A small military team travelled to Islamabad on 19 October 2005 to facilitate the deployment of these aircraft.

Iran

Mark Fisher: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what military equipment was sold to Iran in each of the past five years; and what its value was in each case.

Adam Ingram: The Ministry of Defence's Disposal Services Agency (DSA) has not sold any surplus military equipment to Iran in the last five years.

Iraq

Adam Price: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether the review of abuse investigations in Iraq announced earlier this year by General Sir Mike Jackson has been completed; and whether a date has been set for its publication.

John Reid: Findings will be published when all related legal proceedings have concluded. No date has been set for publication.

Northern Ireland Bases

Jeffrey M Donaldson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many military bases have been closed in Northern Ireland in each year since 1998.

Adam Ingram: The information requested, which includes military bases, joint PSNI/military bases, communications sites and observation towers is shown in the following table:
	
		
			  Number 
		
		
			 1998 8 
			 1999 13 
			 2000 7 
			 2001 3 
			 2002 3 
			 2003 2 
			 2004 1 
			 2005 4

Project D154

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the original (a) time scale and (b) phasing was of Project D154 at DML; and what progress has been made to date.

Adam Ingram: Project D154 involves the upgrade of nuclear facilities at Devonport and consists of three phases. The Phase 1 contract ran from 1993 to 1996 and allowed Devonport Management Ltd. to continue with concept and design development work for the facilities during ongoing negotiations for the Phase 2 prime contract. It was originally envisaged that the construction work would begin in 1996, with completion in 1999, but this was not achieved, primarily due to protracted contract negotiations. The Phase 2 contract was awarded in March 1997 and construction work began in 1998. The estimated date for completion of the contract was April 2004, including an end date for the construction work of January 2002.
	During 2001 it became clear that the approved maximum cost for Phase 2 would be exceeded and Treasury approval for an increase in funding was granted in October 2001, allowing the Phase 2 contract to be renegotiated and re-scoped. The existing target date of January 2002, for completion of the key facilities for Vanguard Class submarines, was achieved. Work to complete the Primary Circuit Decontamination Building is expected to be completed in November 2005, in time for use during HMS Victorious's overhaul. In addition, while some of the work required to upgrade the overhaul and refuel facilities in support of attack submarines (Swiftsure and Trafalgar Classes) was completed by March 2002, elements of the work were transferred to the final phase, Phase 3, as part of the contract re-negotiations.
	The first stage of Phase 3, primarily to support the overhaul and refuel of HMS Triumph, is expected to complete by the end of 2006.

RAF Northolt

John Randall: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  what restrictions apply to the hours at which military aircraft at RAF Northolt may (a) arrive and (b) depart;
	(2)  what restrictions apply to the hours at which civilian aircraft at RAF Northolt may (a) arrive and (b) depart.

Adam Ingram: The standard airfield opening hours for both military and civilian aircraft at RAF Northolt are 0800 to 2000, seven days a week. There is some military and civilian aircraft activity outside of these hours.

RAF Northolt

John Randall: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  how many military aircraft (a) arrived at and (b) departed from RAF Northolt in each of the last three years;
	(2)  how many civilian aircraft (a) arrived at and (b) departed from RAF Northolt in each of the last three years.

Adam Ingram: We do not hold information in the format requested; the following table details the number of aircraft movements, which could be either an arrival or departure, for each of the last three years:
	
		
			  Civilian Military 
		
		
			 2002 7,306 4,903 
			 2003 7,534 5,062 
			 2004 7,493 4,792 
		
	
	Civil commercial aircraft movements at RAF Northolt are limited to 7,000 per calendar year; the number of civilian movements quoted in the aforementioned table includes non-commercial civilian aircraft movements, for example those transporting visiting royalty and heads of state.

RAF Northolt

John Randall: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence which categories of civilian aircraft are permitted to use RAF Northolt.

Adam Ingram: Military and civilian aircraft are permitted to use RAF Northolt. There are no set categories.
	RAF Northolt takes into account a number of factors, including the weight and configuration of the aircraft, the number of passengers and the level of fire cover required. This is done on a case-by-case basis.

RAF Waddington/Brize Norton

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  why RAF Waddington was used to transport nuclear material while RAF Brize Norton is closed; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what plans he has to reinstate RAF Brize Norton as the prime airbase from which to transport nuclear material.

Adam Ingram: The Ministry of Defence has used a number of airfields in the past for the transportation of nuclear material and will use airheads in the future that meet required safety and security standards, which are the Department's paramount consideration. However, I am unable to comment on specific locations as this would be likely to prejudice national security.

Rafale Aircraft

Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether the new aircraft carriers will be equipped with the Rafale aircraft.

Adam Ingram: There are no plans for this.

Skynet 5

Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what will be the bandwidth for Skynet 5.

Adam Ingram: The Skynet 5 PFI provides a total bandwidth in the region of 700 MHz. Of this, the assured MOD capacity is in the region of 400 MHz.

Sub-contracting

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what powers are available to him to intervene in the sub-contracting process of his Department's major suppliers for reasons of (a) technical competence and (b) standards of governance and probity.

Adam Ingram: It is a condition of all contracts between the Ministry of Defence and its prime contractors that they are placed in the name of "the Authority" which is defined as the Secretary of State. Thus the procurement powers of the Secretary of State are vested in the terms and conditions of the contract. In normal circumstances, those powers are exercised through the prime contractor as appropriate, because there is no direct contractual relationship between MOD and its sub-contractors. If it were to intervene directly, MOD would undermine the contractual responsibilities of the prime contractor. It is principally the responsibility of the Department's prime contractors to select and manage the performance of their subcontractors.

Submarine IT Systems

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment has been undertaken of the (a) ability and (b) capacity of Alfred McAlpine Business Systems to deliver effective IT systems for submarines against the Department's requirements as a sub-contractor to BAE Systems.

Adam Ingram: Alfred McAlpine Business Services do not deliver IT systems for submarines as a sub-contractor to BAE Systems submarines. These are provided under sub-contract by Computer Sciences Corporation. Any decision to find an alternative provider is primarily a matter for BAE Systems Submarines.

Surface Fleet

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 10 October 2005, Official Report, column 17W, on the surface fleet, if he will list the (a) destroyers and (b) frigates he expects to be in active service in (i) 2013 and (ii) 2014; and if he will make a statement.

Adam Ingram: In 2013 we expect there to be a destroyer and frigate force consisting of four Type 22 Frigates (HMS Cornwall, Cumberland, Chatham and Campbeltown), 13 Type 23 Frigates (HMS Argyll, Lancaster, Iron Duke, Monmouth, Montrose, Westminster, Northumberland, Richmond, Somerset, Sutherland, Kent, Portland and St. Albans), and five Type 45 Destroyers (HMS Daring, Dauntless, Diamond, Dragon, and Defender). We expect the period 2012–15 to see the withdrawal from service of the last three Type 42 Destroyers, HMS Edinburgh, HMS Nottingham and HMS York, and their replacement by three further Type 45 Destroyers, the first being HMS Duncan. As explained on page 18 of "Delivering Security in a Changing World (Future Capabilities)(Cm 6269)", presented to the House in July 2004, our intention is for the Royal Navy to operate a fleet of 25 destroyers and frigates.

Type 45 Destroyer

Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what military capability the Type 45 destroyer will have other than air defence.

Adam Ingram: The Type 45 destroyer will be a versatile platform that is planned to deliver a number of capabilities in addition to air defence, including naval gunfire support and, through its embarked helicopter, anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare. It will be capable of employment in a full range of tasks including maritime force protection, interdiction and peace support operations.

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

Affordable Housing

Tim Farron: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many affordable housing units expected to be built or procured through the Housing Corporation Approved Development Programme in the North West Region in 2005–06, 2006–07 and 2007–08 are (a) mixed funded social rented housing, (b) temporary social rented housing, (c) homebuy general market purchase, (d) homebuy general new build, (e) mixed funded low cost home ownership for sale, (f) miscellaneous works to registered social landlord (RSL) stock, (g) reimprovements to rented RSL stock, (h) works only rehabilitation of rented RSL stock, (i) works only rehabilitation of RSL stock for sale, (j) right to acquire, (k) voluntary purchase grant, (l) do-it-yourself shared ownership, (m) temporary intermediate and (n) market rent housing; and how much will be spent on each category in each year.

Yvette Cooper: The tables show the latest estimated completions and expenditure in the North West region for 2005–06 through the Housing Corporation Approved Development Programme, for categories from (a) to (n) . Funding and completions are not directly comparable, as funding will relate to projects running, not necessarily units completed, in any one year.
	
		Estimated completions in North West Region for 2005–06
		
			  Units 
		
		
			 (a) Mixed Funded Social Rent 1,540 
			 (b) Temporary Social Rent 0 
			 (c) Homebuy Market Purchase 102 
			 (d) Homebuy New Build 5 
			 (e) Mixed Funded for Sale 558 
			 (f) Miscellaneous works to RSL stock 542 
			 (g) Reimprovements to RSL rented stock 114 
			 (h) Works only rehabilitation of RSL rented stock 130 
			 (i) Works only rehabilitation of RSL stock for sale 19 
			 (j) Right to Acquire 85 
			 (k) Voluntary Purchase Grant 15 
			 (l) Do-it-yourself-shared ownership 0 
			 (m) Temporary intermediate 0 
			 (n) Market rent housing 0 
		
	
	
		Estimated expenditure in North West Region for 2005–06
		
			  £ million 
		
		
			 (a) Mixed Funded Social Rent 97.445 
			 (b) Temporary Social Rent 0.000 
			 (c) Homebuy Market Purchase 2.918 
			 (d) Homebuy New Build 0.530 
			 (e) Mixed Funded for Sale 21.799 
			 (f) Miscellaneous works to RSL stock 3.704 
			 (g) Reimprovements to RSL rented stock 2.369 
			 (h) Works only rehabilitation of RSL rented stock 2.773 
			 (i) Works only rehabilitation of RSL stock for sale 0.412 
			 (j) Right to Acquire 0.790 
			 (k) Voluntary Purchase Grant 0.146 
			 (l) Do-it-yourself-shared ownership 0.000 
			 (m) Temporary intermediate 0.000 
			 (n) Market rent housing 0.000 
		
	
	Note:
	Categories (f), (g), (h) and (i) are not counted as completions and figures are provided only for illustrative purposes.
	Source:
	Housing Corporation Information Management System as at 12 October 2005.
	For 2006–07 and 2007–08 Regional Housing Boards have made recommendations to Ministers for the allocation of Regional Housing Pots funds. The North West Regional Housing Board has recommended that from their allocation of £500 million for the two years a total of £224 million should be allocated to the provision of affordable housing. However, the exact distribution of funding between programmes for 2006–08 will not be known until the completion of the Housing Corporation's bidding process.
	In August 2005 the Housing Corporation launched the bidding round for the 2006–08 Affordable Housing Programme (AHP). This invited both registered social landlords and non-registered bodies to apply for funds to develop affordable housing based on priorities set by the Regional Housing Boards. The outcome of this bidding round will not be known until early in 2006.

Affordable Housing

David Kidney: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many affordable housing units expected to be built or procured through the Housing Corporation Approved Development Programme in the West Midlands Region in (a) 2005–06, (b) 2006–07 and (c) 2007–08 are (i) mixed funded social rented housing, (ii) temporary social rented housing, (iii) homebuy general market purchase, (iv) homebuy general new build, (v) mixed funded low cost home ownership for sale, (vi) miscellaneous works to registered social landlord (RSL) stock, (vii) reimprovements to rented RSL stock, (viii) works only rehabilitation of rented RSL stock, (ix) works only rehabilitation of RSL stock for sale, (x) right to acquire, (xi) voluntary purchase grant, (xii) do-it-yourself shared ownership and (xiii) temporary intermediate and market rent housing; and how much will be spent on each category in each year.

Yvette Cooper: The following tables show the latest estimated completions and expenditure in the West Midlands region for 2005–06 through the Housing Corporation Approved Development Programme, for categories from (i) to (xiii). Funding and completions are not directly comparable, as funding will relate to projects running, not necessarily units completed, in any one year.
	
		Estimated completions in West Midlands Region in 2005–06
		
			   Units 
		
		
			 i Mixed Funded Social Rent 1,709 
			 ii Temporary Social Rent 0 
			 iii Homebuy Market Purchase 387 
			 iv Homebuy New Build 0 
			 v Mixed Funded for Sale 738 
			 vi Misc. works to RSL stock 59 
			 vii Reimprovements to RSL rented stock 7 
			 viii Works only rehabilitation of RSL rented stock 11 
			 ix Works only rehabilitation of RSL stock for Sale 0 
			 x Right to Acquire 34 
			 xi Voluntary Purchase Grant 0 
			 xii Do-it-yourself-shared Ownership 0 
			 xiii Temporary intermediate and Market rent housing 0 
		
	
	
		Estimated expenditure in West Midlands Region in 2005–06
		
			   £ million 
		
		
			 i Mixed Funded Social Rent 54.514 
			 ii Temporary Social Rent 0.000 
			 iii Homebuy Market Purchase 12.006 
			 iv Homebuy New Build 0.000 
			 v Mixed Funded for Sale 9.719 
			 vi Misc. works to RSL stock 0.132 
			 vii Reimprovements to RSL rented stock 0.076 
			 viii Works only rehabilitation of RSL rented stock 0.158 
			 ix Works only rehabilitation of RSL stock for Sale 0.000 
			 x Right to Acquire 0.334 
			 xi Voluntary Purchase Grant 0.000 
			 xii Do-it-yourself-shared Ownership 0.000 
			 xiii Temporary intermediate and Market rent housing 0.000 
		
	
	Source:
	Housing Corporation Information Management System as at 12 October 2005. Categories vi, vii, viii and ix are not usually counted as completions, and figures are provided for illustrative purposes.
	For 2006–07 and 2007–08 Regional Housing Boards have made recommendations to Ministers for the allocation of Regional Housing Pots funds. The West Midlands Regional Housing Board has recommended that from their allocation of £379 million for the two years a total of £198 million should be allocated to the provision of affordable housing. However, the exact distribution of funding between programmes for 2006–08 will not be known until the completion of the Housing Corporation's bidding process.
	In August 2005 the Housing Corporation launched the bidding round for the 2006–08 Affordable Housing Programme (AHP). This invited both registered social landlords and non-registered bodies to apply for funds to develop affordable housing based on priorities set by the Regional Housing Boards. The outcome of this bidding round will not be known until early in 2006.

Beacon Council Status

Greg Hands: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister under what circumstances beacon council status for improving urban spaces would be revoked.

Phil Woolas: Beacon status for improving urban green spaces was awarded to seven councils in 2002. Those councils have completed their period of beacon dissemination and many others have learned from their good practice. I am aware of no circumstances under which their 2002–03 beacon status should now be reconsidered.

Council Housing

Andrew Smith: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will make a statement on the progress of his plans to give local authorities the ability to resume building homes.

Yvette Cooper: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given to my hon. Friend the Member for Great Grimsby (Mr. Mitchell) on 13 June 2005, Official Report, column 118W.

Council Tax

Stephen Byers: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will extend the disabled persons council tax reduction to those who suffer from profound deafness.

Phil Woolas: The Disabled Band Reduction (DBR) scheme is specifically designed to ensure that people with disabilities do not pay more council tax because they live in a bigger property than they would otherwise need if it were not for their disability. The scheme does not aim to provide a general discount for those with disabilities irrespective of their accommodation need and we do not have plans to extend it.

Departmental Underspending

Helen Goodman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what his Department's underspend was in 2004–05 (a) in cash terms and (b) as a percentage of departmental budget.

Jim Fitzpatrick: The requested budget and expenditure information for both the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's (ODPM) main programmes Departmental Expenditure Limit (DEL) and local government programmes DEL is set out in the table.
	
		
			  Main programmes DEL Local government DEL 
		
		
			 Final DEL (£000) 9,478,284 43,788,635 
			 Final Outturn (£000) 8,984,837 43,573,309 
			 (a) underspend (£000) -493,447 -215,326 
			 (b) underspend as a percentage of budget -5.21 -0.5 
		
	
	Note:
	Underspends are denoted by a minus figure.
	Figures for (a) and (b) are final outturn figures as reconciled with the published ODPM Resource Accounts for 2004–05.

Emergency Vehicles (Response Times)

Phyllis Starkey: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what assessment his Department has made of the impact of the WarnTone system on response times for emergency vehicles.

Jim Fitzpatrick: No impact assessment has been made.

Fire Control Centres

Mike Hancock: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether functions carried out by local fire control centres will not be carried out by the South East Regional Fire Control Centre; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Fitzpatrick: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 14 October 2005, Official Report, column 609W.

FRS National Framework

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister for what reasons the Government's response to consultation on draft FRS National Framework 2004–05 ruled out extending insurance cover for firefighters.

Jim Fitzpatrick: Government do not provide insurance cover for firefighters. Any personal insurance is a matter of personal choice and should be seen in the context of the compensation scheme for firefighters. Firefighter pay, pension and injury arrangements reflect the nature of the job and the risks that may be incurred. The death in service benefits for firefighters are more generous than those available to any other public sector service worker.

Local Policies

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what steps he is taking to promote (a) local sustainability, (b) the protection of local environments, (c) local services and facilities, (d) local economies and (e) the local democratic process; and if he will make a statement.

Phil Woolas: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's aim is to build sustainable communities. As such, promoting local sustainability, the protection of local environments, local services and facilities, local economies and the local democratic process is at the heart of our agenda. All our departmental PSAs contribute in some way to these outcomes.
	I would draw the hon. Member's attention to the Department's two five year plans, "Sustainable Communities: Homes for All" (Cm 6424) and "Sustainable Communities: People, Places and Prosperity" (Cm 6425). Both are available on the Department's website and in the Library of the House. Together these documents set out the Department's approach to creating sustainable communities, and describe some of the steps already taken to build them.

M42 Service Area

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the material changes were which led to the decision to re-open the public inquiry into a motorway service area between junction 3a and junction 6 of the M42, Solihull, West Midlands.

Yvette Cooper: A letter informing the relevant parties of my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister, the First Secretary of State's decision to re-open the public inquiry into the proposed motorway service area (MSA) was issued on 6 September. That letter, together with an earlier letter of 21 October 2004, sets out those matters which my right hon. Friend particularly wishes to be informed of in the light of material changes in circumstances since the original public inquiry.
	Since my right hon. Friend's interim decision letter of 6 March 2001, the White Paper "The Future of Air Transport" was published on 16 December 2003; Regional Planning Guidance (now the Regional Spatial Strategy) for the West Midlands was published on 15 June 2004; the Review of the Solihull Unitary Development Plan has continued to progress; Planning Policy Statement 6: Planning for Town Centres was published on 21 March 2005; and revised proposals for the re-use of Walford Hall Farmhouse have been put forward.
	In view of the significant amount of time which has elapsed since the original inquiry closed in June 2000, my right hon. Friend took the view that it would not be safe to proceed to decision on the appeal without a new inquiry being asked to consider these and any other material changes in circumstances since 2000.

Media Relations

Alex Salmond: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how much the Department has spent on external media relations in each month of the last year.

Jim Fitzpatrick: Over the financial year 2004–05 the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has spent £160,320 (£13,360 per month) on external media relations (defined as the employment of external agencies to carry out media relations for or on behalf of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister). All this spend has been through the Central Office of Information (COI) to help promote fire safety in the home.

Ministerial Travel

Norman Baker: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many air miles were accrued through departmental ministerial travel in his Department in 2004–05, broken down by Minister; how many were (a) foregone and (b) donated to charity, broken down by charity; and whether air miles accrued by officials were required to be (i) foregone and (ii) given to charity.

Jim Fitzpatrick: The information requested is not readily available and could not be provided without incurring disproportionate cost.
	Ministerial travel is conducted in accordance with the Ministerial Code and Travel by Ministers. Guidance for Ministers on the use of Air Miles is set out in the Ministerial Code. The guidance makes clear that Air Miles should be used only for official purposes or else foregone. However, if it is impracticable to use the benefits for Government travel, there is no objection to Ministers donating them to charity if this is permissible under the terms of the airline's scheme and the charity is one chosen by the airline.
	Similar rules are in place for officials.

Parks

Greg Hands: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what area of (a) parkland and (b) metropolitan open space there is in each London borough.

Jim Fitzpatrick: The total area of green space and metropolitan open land in each London borough is shown in the table (these categories are not mutually exclusive). Data relating to "parkland" are not available.
	
		Table 1: Area of green space and metropolitan open landby London borough -- Hectares
		
			 London borough Green space as at 2001 Metropolitan open land 
		
		
			 City of London 19.0 0 
			 Barking and Dagenham 1,267.1 137.8 
			 Barnet 3,541.8 652.9 
			 Bexley 2,318.0 630.6 
			 Brent 956.2 298.8 
			 Bromley 8,722.0 625.1 
			 Camden 531.9 375.6 
			 Croydon 3,218.6 273.3 
			 Ealing 1,719.4 845.5 
			 Enfield 3,749.5 507.5 
			 Greenwich 1,706.3 1,117.8 
			 Hackney 460.2 229.4 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 305.6 145.4 
			 Haringey 783.4 448.1 
			 Harrow 1,751.5 282.2 
			 Havering 6,684.5 0 
			 Hillingdon 5,638.9 37.2 
			 Hounslow 2,277.8 806.0 
			 Islington 187.9 13.3 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 187.2 77.5 
			 Kingston upon Thames 1,348.5 499.8 
			 Lambeth 463.4 118.5 
			 Lewisham 807.5 295.9 
			 Merton 1,325.1 962.1 
			 Newham 940.7 282.9 
			 Redbridge 2,274.5 7.5 
			 Richmond upon Thames 2,979.0 2,997.0 
			 Southwark 736.7 485.6 
			 Sutton 1,399.8 526.3 
			 Tower Hamlets 384.9 121.4 
			 Waltham Forest 1,249.6 212.5 
			 Wandsworth 920.1 699.1 
			 City of Westminster 485.4 447.2 
			 All London boroughs 61,342.1 15,159.6 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. Green space includes almost all natural land, such as the natural parts of parks, allotments, agricultural land, road verges and woodland.
	2. Metropolitan open land is a designation unique to London and its function is to protect strategically important open spaces within the built environment.
	Source:
	Greenspace—Generalised Land Use Database (ODPM).
	Metropolitan open land (GLA).

Regional Housing Boards

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether the regional housing boards will be subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 when they are merged with the regional chambers.

Yvette Cooper: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is still considering a number of points of detail on how merger of Regional Housing Boards and Regional Planning Bodies is best effected, but hope to make a positive announcement shortly.
	Regional Housing Boards provide advice to Ministers on the allocation of housing capital investment: final decisions rest with Ministers, as would be the case should Regional Assemblies take over their work.
	Regional Assemblies are voluntary bodies and not therefore subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000. However, "Guidance on the General Principles of Designation of Voluntary Regional Assemblies", issued by my Department in October 2004 states:
	"The Assembly should conduct its proceedings as openly and transparently as possible, and should have policies and procedures in place to ensure the integrity of its decisions and activities. Although not subject to the legislation, the Assembly should be mindful of the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, and should ensure that its constitution and activities are consistent with the spirit of the legislation".

Social Housing

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the total amount of debt written off under his system of writing off debt for those local authorities which agree to large scale voluntary transfers of the housing stock is; and why the debt of authorities which retain the stock may not be written off in the same way.

Yvette Cooper: To date the Office has made Overhanging Debt payments amounting to £1.565 billion.
	Where the net receipt a local authority receives for the sale of its housing stock in a Large Scale Voluntary Transfer is less than its housing debt, the Office will make a one-off payment to meet the outstanding debt. The one-off payment is in lieu of the subsidy that the Office would otherwise be required to pay the authority.
	To repay the housing debt of local authorities which retain their housing stock would lead to local authorities borrowing more from the public sector whereas after stock transfer registered social landlords can borrow from the private sector.

Student Hostels

Jim Cousins: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will list the consultees on the draft codes of practice for student hostels drawn up by Universities UK and the Accreditation Network; who responded to the consultation; and if he will place a copy of their replies in the Library.

Yvette Cooper: The following were formally consulted:
	Accreditation Network UK (ANUK)
	Asset Skills
	Association for Student Residential Accommodation (ASRA)
	Association of London Government (ALG)
	Association of Managers of Student Services (AMOSSHE)
	Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA)
	Association of Residential Managing Agents (ARMA)
	Association of Tenancy Relations Officers (ATRO)
	Association of University Chief Security Officers (AUCSO)
	Association of University Directors of Estates (AUDE)
	Association of University Heads of Administration (AUHA)
	British Property Federation (BPF)
	Chartered Institute of Environmental Health Officers (CIEH)
	Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH)
	Citizens Advice
	Conference of University Business Officers (CUBO)
	HMO Network
	Housing Corporation
	Independent Housing Ombudsman (IHO)
	Law Commission
	Local Government Association (LGA)
	National Union of Students (NUS)
	National Federation of Residential Landlords (NFRL)
	National Landlords Association (NLA)
	Opal Ltd.
	Prime Living Group plc
	Residential Landlords Association (RLA)
	Shelter
	Standing Conference of Principals (SCOP)
	Unipol Student Homes
	Unite plc
	Universities UK
	University Partnerships Programme (UPP)
	University Safety and Health Association (USHA)
	Wales: Higher Education Wales
	Wales: Society of Directors of Public Protection in Wales
	Wales: NUS (Wales)
	Wales: National Assembly for Wales
	Welsh Local Government Association
	We are now considering responses from the following:
	Accommodation Services—UCE, Birmingham
	Accreditation Network UK (ANUK)
	Association of Managers of Student Services (AMOSSHE)
	Birmingham City Council
	Bournemouth NUS
	Bristol Council
	Christ Church Canterbury Students Union
	Chartered Institute of Environmental Health
	Dartington College of Arts Students Union
	De Montfort University NUS
	Dr. S. L. Granum (individual)
	Guild of Students—University of Birmingham
	Higher Education Regulation Review Group—DFES
	HMO Network
	Islington Council
	Kent NUS
	King's College, London
	Kingston University NUS
	Leeds City Council
	Leeds NUS
	Liberty Living
	Liverpool University Guild of Students
	Manchester Council
	Martineau Johnson Solicitors
	National Union of Students (NUS)
	Reading NUS
	Sheffield Hallam NUS
	Sheffield NUS
	UCL Union
	Unipol Student Homes
	Unite plc
	Universities UK
	University of Greenwich
	University of Sussex
	A copy of their replies will be placed n the Library of the House.

Vacant Homes

Adam Holloway: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many vacant homes there are in Kent; and for what average period houses were vacant in each of the last three years.

Yvette Cooper: There were 23,364 empty homes in Kent as at November 2004, the latest year for which figures are available. The data are as reported on CTB1 & CTB1S forms submitted by billing authorities to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister each year. The figure includes both long and short-term empty properties.
	Details of the average period for which houses were vacant in each of the last three years are not available centrally.

EDUCATION AND SKILLS

Adult Education

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the Learning and Skills Council funding allocations for adult education for 2005–06 on future enrolments by over-25s in Level 3 and Level 4 courses.

Bill Rammell: The Government's Skills Strategy, reaffirmed in the White Paper published on the 22 March, sets clear priorities for public funding to support adults without a platform of skills for employability. However, we also recognise the importance of higher level skills, and the Skills Strategy White Paper set out measures to strengthen support for provision at Level 3 and above. Given that higher levels of qualifications have higher rates of return for employers and individuals, it is also important that this should be reflected in the relative contributions employers and individuals make to the costs of such training.
	We are committed to trialling, in two regions, providing an additional element of subsidy alongside a contribution from the employer for Level 3 training delivered flexibly through NETP. We will invest an additional £20 million per year in 2006–07 and 2007–08 to assess the impact of that way of operating prior to taking final decisions on the routing of public funds for Level 3 training through the National Employer Training Programme.
	We are currently working with the LSC and others to identify the regions for the trials and expect to make an announcement shortly.
	The Learning and Skills Council is responsible for the funding allocations for 2005/06 and for planning provision which meets Government priorities and local needs. Mark Haysom, the Council's Chief Executive, will write to the hon. Friend with an assessment of participation by adults in Level 3 and 4 courses funded by the LSC. A copy of his reply will be placed in the Library.
	We are currently working with the LSC and others to identify the regions for the trials and expect to make an announcement shortly.
	The Learning and Skills Council is responsible for the funding allocations for 2005/06 and for planning provision which meets Government priorities and local needs. Mark Haysom, the Council's Chief Executive, will write to my hon. Friend with an assessment of participation by adults in Level 3 and 4 courses funded by the LSC. A copy of his reply will be placed in the Library.
	Letter from Mark Haysom to Mr Gordon Marsden dated 28 July 2005
	I write in response to your recent Parliamentary Questions to the Secretary of State for Education and Skills regarding participation in, and funding allocations for, adult education.
	As you will know, adult participation in education and skills development can take many forms. The main LSC-funded programmes are Work Based Learning (WBL), general Further Education (FE) and Adult & Community Learning (ACL). Annex 1 attached shows how much funding has been allocated to each of our local Learning and Skills Councils for these programmes, in total, for the 2003/04 and 2004/05 years. For 2005/06, you will see that in some regions (where monetary amounts appear against the Regional Office) the details are not yet finalised. We aim to publish final information on our web site as soon as we can.
	We also allocate funding for other types of adult provision:
	employer-based provision through the Employer Training Pilots (ETP), soon to be rolled-out across the country as a National Employer Training Programme and the Workforce Development programme. Taken together, approximate funding levels for these programmes over the 3 years are 2003–04 £84 million, 2004–05 £140 million, 2005–06 £196 million;
	learning specifically aimed at people with learning difficulties and/or disabilities (LLDD). For adults, spend figures over the 3 years are approximately £50 million in 2003/04, £66 million in 04/05 and we expect around £67 million in 05/06;
	programmes arranged by the University for Industry (UfI), where budgets for the 3 years are in the region of £164 million, £164 million and £141 million;
	School 6th Form provision for students aged 19+ at approximately £3.6 million in 03/04 and £4.5 million in 04/05. We can't say how many pupils there will be aged 19 and over in 2005/06 just yet.
	In addition, we provide support for learners through Additional Learning Support for specific student needs, around 40 per cent. of which is attributable to adults or, over the 3 years roughly £123 million, £132 million and £135 million, Learner Support Funds, also provide financial support in cases of hardship and to meet childcare costs. These total £80 million a year for adults. Adult Learning Grants are also being piloted in 19 LSC areas at an annual cost of £12 million.
	We also fund information, advice and guidance services for adult learners and potential learners at £36 million, £37 million and £38 million over the 3 years in question.
	I have not included in Annex 1, the current funding for these programmes, because this would distort the comparison between local LSCs, as some of this funding is routed to particular parts of the country where provision is available or where we are piloting.
	Annex 2 provides the participation information requested for 2003/04 and 2004/05. Figures for 2003/04 are actuals. Those for 2004/05 are estimated outturns—the 2004/05 academic year is yet to finish and, particularly for adult education which is primarily made up of shorter courses, the pattern of delivery across the academic year changes from year to year, making accurate prediction of full-year outturn difficult. Local LSCs are currently talking with providers across the whole range of our programmes for the 2005/06 year. It is too early to say what levels of participation we will see, but the LSC expects to achieve the targets we have been set on delivering the Government's priorities. This will lead to shifts in the balance of provision across programmes and we do expect a reduction in adult numbers in 2005/06 as a result. Our current estimate is that this will be around 300,000 learners, a reduction of around 7 per cent. from the 2004/05 planned level.
	Regarding your question on future enrolments by over 25s in level 3 and level 4 courses, we are not able to say at this time, what the impact will be. Whilst each of our local LSCs plan provision with their providers, we don't manage providers at that level of detail. Colleges and other adult education providers will make their own decisions on the number of learners they recruit and the level of fees they may charge to meet course costs.
	I hope this is helpful.
	Annex 1
	
		
			 LSC Name 2003/04 Allocation 
			  FE WBL (19+) ACL Total 
		
		
			 Norfolk 19,157,086 2,921,592 2,351,796 24,430,474 
			 Cambridgeshire 18,507,467 2,222,370 2,484,608 23,214,445 
			 Suffolk 14,770,183 3,162,014 2,823,263 20,755,460 
			 Bedfordshire and  Luton 20,688,000 1,222,944 1,965,011 23,875,955 
			 Hertfordshire 23,671,000 2,651,779 2,860,994 29,183,773 
			 Essex 29,412,441 4,805,988 7,716,175 41,934,604 
			 Regional Budget—  East of England0 
			 East of England  Total 126,206,177 16,986,687 20,201,847 163,394,711 
			 Derbyshire 33,090,901 3,816,306 6,058,735 42,965,942 
			 Nottinghamshire 47,859,536 5,074,842 3,520,897 56,455,275 
			 Lincolnshire and  Rutland 14,067,201 2,588,687 2,387,475 19,043,363 
			 Leicestershire 36,440,740 2,038,038 6,208,593 44,687,371 
			 Northamptonshire 15,927,000 2,665,697 2,292,541 20,885,238 
			 Regional Budget—  East Midlands0 
			 East Midlands Total 147,385,378 16,183,570 20,468,241 184,037,189 
			 London North 54,021,810 2,045,319 5,186,291 61,253,420 
			 London West 59,337,184 2,647,081 6,717,814 68,702,079 
			 London Central 118,090,284 4,531,838 12,542,537 135,164,659 
			 London East 112,132,881 5,055,375 16,505,406 133,693,662 
			 London South 47,508,170 3,774,394 7,522,002 58,804,566 
			 Regional Budget—  Greater London0 
			 Greater London  Total 391,090,329 18,054,007 48,474,050 457,618,386 
			 Northumberland 6,520,864 1,236,167 508,585 8,265,616 
			 Tyne and Wear 54,746,306 5,605,844 5,868,356 66,220,506 
			 County Durham 15,902,129 1,764,859 2,239,611 19,906,599 
			 Tees Valley 25,100,362 3,926,953 4,357,504 33,384,819 
			 Regional Budget—  North East0 
			 North East Total 102,269,661 12,533,823 12,974,056 127,777,540 
			 Cumbria 12,584,017 2,018,950 1,475,744 16,078,711 
			 Lancashire 50,267,380 5,193,195 8,687,600 64,148,175 
			 Greater Merseyside 56,949,165 9,589,191 8,430,726 74,969,082 
			 Greater Manchester 93,061,000 12,419,682 14,578,452 120,059,134 
			 Cheshire and  Warrington 22,952,000 4,168,432 2,413,581 29,534,013 
			 Regional Budget—  North West0 
			 North West Total 235,813,562 33,389,450 35,586,103 304,789,115 
			 MKOB 31,455,029 5,409,905 5,689,540 42,554,474 
			 Berkshire 21,310,729 3,290,962 3,577,090 28,178,781 
			 Hampshire and Isle  of Wight 50,355,843 5,122,003 3,089,659 58,567,505 
			 Surrey 21,810,689 1,237,358 3,833,000 26,881,047 
			 Sussex 38,065,188 4,369,946 4,635,867 47,071,001 
			 Kent and Medway 38,956,000 4,599,361 8,433,000 52,988,361 
			 Regional Budget—  South East0 
			 South East Total 202,953,478 24,029,535 29,258,156 256,241,169 
			 Devon and  Cornwall 50,581,051 6,829,575 6,510,514 63,921,140 
			 Somerset 16,731,352 1,390,494 3,617,476 21,739,322 
			 Bournemouth, Dorset and Poole 18,123,058 2,825,082 2,009,599 22,957,739 
			 West of England 37,539.261 2,438,197 2,161,025 42,138,483 
			 Wiltshire and  Swindon 16,308,000 1,724,101 1,112,386 19,144,487 
			 Gloucestershire 13,829,027 1,837,789 2,746,411 18,413,227 
			 Regional Budget—  South West0 
			 South West Total 153,111,749 17,045,238 18,157,411 188,314,398 
			 Shropshire 13,771,361 5,604,524 1,050,733 20,426,618 
			 Staffordshire 35,333,725 4,865,306 3,605,596 43,804,627 
			 Black Country 44,434,141 4,577,219 6,011,062 55,022,422 
			 Birmingham and  Solihull 82,482,484 4,835,478 6,502,855 93,820,817 
			 Herefordshire and  Worcestershire 20,458,371 2,623,052 953,026 24,034,449 
			 Coventry and  Warwickshire 32,967,245 3,158,085 5,080,851 41,206,181 
			 Regional Budget—  West Midlands0 
			 West Midlands  Total 229,447,327 25,663,664 23,204,123 278,315,114 
			 North Yorkshire 17,948,819 2,392,078 3,077,223 23,418,120 
			 West Yorkshire 73,184,533 6,462,091 7,672,248 87,318,872 
			 South Yorkshire 44,809,370 5,223,684 4,119,027 54,152,081 
			 Humberside 32,006,135 3,077,900 4,083,006 39,167,041 
			 Regional Budget— 
			 Yorkshire & Humberside   0 
			 Yorkshire & Humberside Total 167,948,857 17,155,753 18,951,504 204,056,114 
			 National Contracting 
			 Service 0 19,748,833 0 
			  1,756,226,518 200,790,560 227,275,491 2,164,543,736 
		
	
	
		
			 LSC Name 2004/05 Allocation 
			  FE WBL (19+) ACL Total 
		
		
			 Norfolk 18,597,748 2,577,472 2,378,488 23,553,708 
			 Cambridgeshire 18,840,300 2,642,018 2,517,813 24,000,131 
			 Suffolk 15,625,277 3,209,003 2,834,436 21,668,716 
			 Bedfordshire and  Luton 20,674,000 1,388,856 1,941,481 24,004,337 
			 Hertfordshire 23,785,434 2,894,867 2,946,360 29,626,661 
			 Essex 31,919,325 3,996,808 7,671,588 43,587,721 
			 Regional Budget—  East of England0 
			 East of England  Total 129,442,084 16,709,024 20,290,166 166,441,274 
			 Derbyshire 31,530,715 3,922,506 6,244,794 41,698,015 
			 Nottinghamshire 47,160,881 5,457,695 3,794,823 56,413,399 
			 Lincolnshire and  Rutland 14,690,955 2,925,478 2,464,911 20,081,344 
			 Leicestershire 40,281,977 3,079,758 6,464,205 49,825,940 
			 Northamptonshire 14,984,652 2,713,267 2,285,598 19,983,517 
			 Regional Budget—  East Midlands0 
			 East Midlands Total 148,649,180 18,098,704 21,254,331 188,002,215 
			 London North 55,905,370 2,104,756 5,202,180 63,212,306 
			 London West 60,906,749 2,584,523 7,146,533 70,637,805 
			 London Central 123,049,936 4,920,764 12,551,168 140,521,868 
			 London East 120,663,295 3,101,449 16,345,420 140,110,164 
			 London South 52,072,024 4,035,401 7,756,336 63,863,761 
			 Regional Budget—  Greater London0 
			 Greater London  Total 412,597,374 16,746,893 49,001,637 478,345,904 
			 Northumberland 7,361,877 1,245,000 503,565 9,110,442 
			 Tyne and Wear 58,478,806 3,570,000 5,586,983 67,635,789 
			 County Durham 19,120,012 1,988,000 2,404,457 23,512,469 
			 Tees Valley 27,185,009 3,657,000 4,471,093 35,313,102 
			 Regional Budget—  North East0 
			 North East Total 112,145,704 10,460,000 12,966,098 135,571,802 
			 Cumbria 12,493,547 1,924,759 1,684,384 16,102,690 
			 Lancashire 52,371,000 5,104,629 9,003,261 66,478,890 
			 Greater Merseyside 57,783,962 8,402,182 9,101,803 75,287,947 
			 Greater Manchester 95,189,660 12,157,667 14,669,938 122,017,265 
			 Cheshire and  Warrington 24,069,864 4,114,892 2,489,792 30,674,548 
			 Regional Budget—  North West0 
			 North West Total 241,908,033 31,704,129 36,949,178 310,561,340 
			 MKOB 35,620,654 7,098,404 5,803,101 48,522,159 
			 Berkshire 25,417,860 4,530,508 3,723,248 33,671,616 
			 Hampshire and Isle  of Wight 47,880,510 6,906,564 3,146,465 57,933,539 
			 Surrey 24,647,296 2,203,198 3,867,629 30,718,123 
			 Sussex 40,754,000 4,827,932 4,760,137 50,342,069 
			 Kent and Medway 39,275,000 4,646,469 8,488,329 52,409,798 
			 Regional Budget—  South East0 
			 South East Total 213,595,320 30,213,075 29,788,909 273,597,304 
			 Devon and  Cornwall 52,665,397 7,517,714 6,624,841 66,807,952 
			 Somerset 17,190,677 1,572,974 3,618,569 22,382,220 
			 Bournemouth, Dorset and Poole 19,512,489 3,201,500 2,079,617 24,793,606 
			 West of England 40,121,859 2,670,000 2,371,258 45,163,117 
			 Wiltshire and  Swindon 16,001,540 2,430,000 1,098,300 19,529,840 
			 Gloucestershire 14,344,793 1,981,820 2,692,739 19,019,352 
			 Regional Budget—  South West0 
			 South West Total 159,836,755 19,374,008 18,485,324 197,696,087 
			 Shropshire 14,410,580 1,678,277 1,014,644 17,103,501 
			 Staffordshire 38,379,523 5,826,000 3,419,531 47,625,054 
			 Black Country 45,526,650 5,296,439 6,101,301 56,924,390 
			 Birmingham and  Solihull 87,370,383 5,238,322 6,694,680 99,303,385 
			 Herefordshire and  Worcestershire 22,607,078 3,571,716 1,027,009 27,205,803 
			 Coventry and  Warwickshire 36,683,124 3,600,270 5,218,631 45,502,025 
			 Regional Budget—  West Midlands0 
			 West Midlands  Total 244,977,338 25,211,024 23,475,796 293,664,158 
			 North Yorkshire 19,434,000 2,989,838 3,178,451 25,602,289 
			 West Yorkshire 76,774,543 7,206,974 7,553,028 91,534,545 
			 South Yorkshire 48,386,149 6,383,653 4,190,689 58,960,491 
			 Humberside 33,657,087 2,802,753 4,142,383 40,602,223 
			 Regional Budget— 
			 Yorkshire & Humberside   0 
			 Yorkshire & Humberside Total 178,251,779 19,383,218 19,064,551 216,699,548 
			 National Contracting 
			 Service 2,491,877 51,670,956 0 54,162,833 
			  1,843,895,444 239,571,031 231,275,990 2,314,742,465 
		
	
	
		
			 LSC Name 2005/06 Allocation 
			  FE WBL (19+) ACL Total 
		
		
			 Norfolk 16,594,109 0 2,378,488 18,972,597 
			 Cambridgeshire 16,632,800 0 2,517,813 19,150,613 
			 Suffolk 13,670,734 0 2,834,436 16,505,170 
			 Bedfordshire and  Luton 18,748,754 0 1,941,481 20,690,235 
			 Hertfordshire 21,403,338 0 2,946,360 24,349,698 
			 Essex 27,696,593 0 7,671,588 35,368,181 
			 Regional Budget—  East of England  17,127,000  17,127,000 
			 East of England  Total 114,746,328 17,127,000 20,290,166 152,163,494 
			 Derbyshire 30,175,779 3,580,000 6,244,794 40,000,573 
			 Nottinghamshire 45,666,009 4,845,000 3,794,823 54,305,832 
			 Lincolnshire and  Rutland 11,536,418 2,290,000 2,464,911 16,291,329 
			 Leicestershire 39,031,307 2,917,000 6,464,205 48,412,512 
			 Northamptonshire 14,284,624 2,524,000 2,285,598 19,094,222 
			 Regional Budget—  East Midlands  0  0 
			 East Midlands Total 140,694,137 16,156,000 21,254,331 178,104,468 
			 London North 57,271,062 0 5,202,180 62,473,242 
			 London West 63,099,000 0 7,146,533 70,245,533 
			 London Central 123,183,676 0 12,551,168 135,734,844 
			 London East 119,202,610 0 16,345,420 135,548,030 
			 London South 52,146,317 0 7,756,336 59,902,653 
			 Regional Budget—  Greater London  17,165,000  17,165,000 
			 Greater London  Total 414,902,665 17,165,000 49,001,637 481,069,302 
			 Northumberland 6,677,297 1,276,125 503,565 8,456,987 
			 Tyne and Wear 54,689,000 3,659,250 5,586,983 63,935,233 
			 County Durham 17,973,747 1,998,750 2,404,457 22,376,954 
			 Tees Valley 26,872,556 3,748,425 4,471,093 35,092,074 
			 Regional Budget—  North East  -1,000  -1,000 
			 North East Total 106,212,600 10,681,550 12,966,098 129,860,248 
			 Cumbria 11,630,193 1,973,000 1,684,384 15,287,577 
			 Lancashire 49,528,928 5,232,000 9,003,261 63,764,189 
			 Greater Merseyside 57,190,952 8,611,000 9,101,803 74,903,755 
			 Greater Manchester 91,005,613 12,463,000 14,669,938 118,138,551 
			 Cheshire and  Warrington 22,240,198 4,218,000 2,489,792 28,947,990 
			 Regional Budget—  North West0 
			 North West Total 231,595,884 32,497,000 36,949,178 301,042,062 
			 MKOB 29,938,656 7,448,000 5,803,101 43,189,757 
			 Berkshire 25,376,000 5,240,000 3,723,248 34,339,248 
			 Hampshire and Isle  of Wight 48,965,498 7,265,000 3,146,465 59,376,963 
			 Surrey 22,869,714 2,844,000 3,867,629 29,581,343 
			 Sussex 40,395,000 5,062,000 4,760,137 50,217,137 
			 Kent and Medway 36,782,429 4,824,000 8,488,329 50,094,758 
			 Regional Budget—  South East  -1,715,000  -1,715,000 
			 South East Total 204,327,297 30,968,000 29,788,909 265,084,206 
			 Devon and  Cornwall 49,849,761 5,066,802 6,624,841 61,541,404 
			 Somerset 15,306,931 1,061,968 3,618,569 19,987,468 
			 Bournemouth, Dorset and Poole 18,883,558 2,156,287 2,079,617 23,119,462 
			 West of England 32,229,399 1,806,263 2,323,407 36,359,069 
			 Wiltshire and  Swindon 14,852,309 1,627,607 1,098,300 17,578,216 
			 Gloucestershire 12,864,753 1,330,301 2,692,739 16,887,793 
			 Regional Budget—  South West  6,809,772  6,809,772 
			 South West Total 143,986,711 19,859,000 18,437,473 182,283,184 
			 Shropshire 14,939,274  1,014,644 15,953,918 
			 Staffordshire 36,008,000 0 3,419,531 39,427,531 
			 Black Country 47,010,520 0 6,101,301 53,111,821 
			 Birmingham and  Solihull 90,037,855 0 6,694,680 96,732,535 
			 Herefordshire and  Worcestershire 23,102,474 0 1,227,009 24,329,483 
			 Coventry and  Warwickshire 36,616,416 0 5,218,631 41,835,047 
			 Regional Budget—  West Midlands  25,841,000  25,841,000 
			 West Midlands  Total 247,714,539 25,841,000 23,675,796 297,231,335 
			 North Yorkshire 16,880,078 0 3,170,071 20,050,149 
			 West Yorkshire 75,603,910 0 7,557,700 83,161,610 
			 South Yorkshire 47,482,512 0 4,192,555 51,675,067 
			 Humberside 31,684,376 0 4,144,225 35,828,601 
			 Regional Budget— 
			 Yorkshire & Humberside 19,782,000  19,782,000 
			 Yorkshire & Humberside Total 171,650,876 19,782,000 19,064,551 210,497,427 
			 National Contracting 
			 Service 2,250,000 76,662,000 0 78,912,000 
			  1,778,081,037 266,738,550 231,428,139 2,276,247,726 
		
	
	Annex 2, Adult Participation
	2003/04 actuals, 2004/05 planned
	
		
			 2003/04 
			   FE WBL ACL Total 
		
		
			  National Employer Service 36,793 21,503 — 58,296 
			 EE060 Norfolk 55,171 1,701 15,307 72,179 
			 EE070 Cambridgeshire 39,864 1,338 13,248 54,450 
			 EE080 Suffolk 27,914 1,607 17,313 46,834 
			 EE090 Bedfordshire and Luton 49,236 813 10,785 60,834 
			 EE100 Hertfordshire 38,314 1,665 4,217 44,196 
			 EE110 Essex 55,658 2,039 32,855 90,552 
			 EM010 Derbyshire 79,412 1,710 13,870 94,993 
			 EM020 Nottinghamshire 99,087 2,555 13,918 115,560 
			 EM030 Lincolnshire and Rutland 87,553 1,232 15,569 104,354 
			 EM040 Leicestershire 77,012 1,361 25,029 103,402 
			 EM050 Northamptonshire 29,437 1,450 14,861 45,748 
			 GL120 London North 63,167 766 10,281 74,214 
			 GL130 London West 59,295 830 26,394 86,519 
			 GL140 London Central 151,908 1,744 40,750 194,402 
			 GL150 London East 187,455 1,318 43,534 232,307 
			 GL160 London South 73,273 1,802 31,637 106,712 
			 NE170 Northumberland 9,097 588 4,178 13,863 
			 NE180 Tyne and Wear 97,531 2,498 25,155 125,184 
			 NE190 County Durham 40,481 932 6,693 48,106 
			 NE200 Tees Valley 62,973 1,399 15,827 80,199 
			 NW210 Cumbria 32,292 1,003 10,950 44,245 
			 NW220 Lancashire 103,162 2,760 59,624 165,546 
			 NW230 Greater Merseyside 99, 226 4,377 20,977 124,580 
			 NW240 Greater Manchester 159,429 6,280 28,619 194,328 
			 NW250 Cheshire and Warrington 53,207 2,364 18,445 74,016 
			 SE260 Milton Keynes, Oxfordshire 64,206 2,734 46,500 113,439 
			 SE270 Berkshire 36,091 1,986 19,302 57,378 
			 SE280 Hampshire and Isle of Wight 130,446 2,874 28,610 161,930 
			 SE290 Surrey 45,693 891 27,037 73,621 
			 SE300 Sussex 64,372 2,104 55,660 122,136 
			 SE310 Kent and Medway 86,652 2,148 34,284 123,083 
			 SW320 Devon and Cornwall 118,982 4,009 45,174 168,165 
			 SW330 Somerset 33,499 806 15,559 49,864 
			 SW340 Bournemouth, Dorset and Poole 38,628 2,443 13,545 54,616 
			 SW350 West of England 53,638 1,338 6,078 61,054 
			 SW360 Wiltshire and Swindon 44,394 1,351 8,265 54,010 
			 SW370 Gloucestershire 30,296 928 17,746 48,969 
			 WM380 Shropshire 27,632 887 3,244 31,763 
			 WM390 Staffordshire 74,910 2,416 22,152 99,478 
			 WM400 Black Country 83,978 2,492 17,869 104,339 
			 WM410 Birmingham and Solihull 124,760 1,875 15,183 141,818 
			 WM420 Herefordshire and Worcestershire 59,254 1,638 1,000 61,892 
			 WM430 Coventry and Warwickshire 74,708 1,534 8,400 84,642 
			 YH440 North Yorkshire 55,918 1,395 13,696 71,010 
			 YH450 West Yorkshire 133,304 3,739 28,610 165,652 
			 YH460 South Yorkshire 81,921 2,409 12,000 96,330 
			 YH470 Humberside 81,769 1,495 18,000 101,264 
			  TOTALS 3,413,000 111,125 977,950 4,502,075 
		
	
	
		
			 2004/05 
			   FE WBL ACL Total 
		
		
			  National Employer Service 36,793 23,204 — 59,997 
			 EE060 Norfolk 49,908 1,726 16,000 67,634 
			 EE070 Cambridgeshire 39,320 1,264 15,833 56,417 
			 EE080 Suffolk 32,895 1,405 17,071 51,371 
			 EE090 Bedfordshire and Luton 42,847 775 11,000 54,621 
			 EE100 Hertfordshire 41,062 1,588 4,000 46,651 
			 EE110 Essex 47,494 2,051 32,400 81,946 
			 EM010 Derbyshire 78,954 1,702 15,425 96,081 
			 EM020 Nottinghamshire 94,355 2,539 13,918 110,811 
			 EM030 Lincolnshire and Rutland 37,393 1,130 13,430 51,954 
			 EM040 Leicestershire 91,285 1,509 23,530 116,324 
			 EM050 Northamptonshire 27,756 1,324 15,150 44,230 
			 GL120 London North 64,012 820 10,525 75,357 
			 GL130 London West 51,298 789 28,042 80,129 
			 GL140 London Central 135,943 1,781 41,000 178,724 
			 GL150 London East 190,182 1,212 50,572 241,965 
			 GL160 London South 75,152 1,539 43,350 120,041 
			 NE170 Northumberland 9,989 538 3,684 14,210 
			 NE180 Tyne and Wear 111,463 2,181 20,569 134,213 
			 NE190 County Durham 44,266 842 7,030 52,137 
			 NE200 Tees Valley 55,964 1,330 13,251 70,545 
			 NW210 Cumbria 31,149 951 10,950 43,050 
			 NW220 Lancashire 99,821 2,927 59,624 162,372 
			 NW230 Greater Merseyside 95,486 4,183 24,000 123,669 
			 NW240 Greater Manchester 159,081 5,933 28,600 193,614 
			 NW250 Cheshire and Warrington 45,137 2,499 17,800 65,436 
			 SE260 Milton Keynes, Oxfordshire 63,001 2,616 34,000 99,617 
			 SE270 Berkshire 42,158 2,024 20,000 64,183 
			 SE280 Hampshire and Isle of Wight 109,024 3,034 28,610 140,668 
			 SE290 Surrey 48,009 1,027 24,000 73,036 
			 SE300 Sussex 63,081 2,268 50,690 116,039 
			 SE310 Kent and Medway 75,989 2,248 36,150 114,387 
			 SW320 Devon and Cornwall 114,748 3,735 52,648 171,131 
			 SW330 Somerset 41,431 809 4,265 46,505 
			 SW340 Bournemouth, Dorset and Poole 41,428 1,528 13,760 56,716 
			 SW350 West of England 57,655 1,329 6,100 65,084 
			 SW360 Wiltshire and Swindon 42,948 1,237 6,386 50,571 
			 SW370 Gloucestershire 32,589 931 16,500 50,020 
			 WM380 Shropshire 32,934 807 5,646 39,387 
			 WM390 Staffordshire 77,091 2,268 29,650 109,010 
			 WM400 Black Country 82,100 2,315 18,048 102,462 
			 WM410 Birmingham and Solihull 135,401 2,037 15,183 152,621 
			 WM420 Herefordshire and Worcestershire 43,732 1,598 1,000 46,330 
			 WM430 Coventry and Warwickshire 69,612 1,538 9,400 80,550 
			 YH440 North Yorkshire 53,765 1,422 13,696 68,882 
			 YH450 West Yorkshire 126,541 3,600 25,822 155,963 
			 YH460 South Yorkshire 79,676 2,098 12,000 93,774 
			 YH470 Humberside 75,011 1,387 18,000 94,398 
			  TOTALS 3,296,927 109,597 978,308 4,384,832

Adult Education

Adam Holloway: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many people in adult education in Gravesham are over 60-years-old.

Bill Rammell: There were just over 4.1 million learners in further education (FE) provision funded by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) in 2003/04 in England. Of these learners, 5,459 were based in Gravesham, of which 602 were over 60 years old.
	Additionally, there were over 840,000 learners funded by the LSC enrolled on adult and community learning (ACL) courses in 2003/04 in England, of which 250,000 were over 60-years-old. ACL numbers for individual parliamentary constituencies are not currently available.

Apprenticeships

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many people have (a) begun and (b) successfully completed apprenticeships related to the construction industry in each of the last five years for which records are available.

Bill Rammell: Figures for those starting and successfully completing apprenticeships in construction funded by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) derive from the Individual Learner Record (ILR). This was collated for the first time in 2001/02 (as an Interim ILR) and comparable figures are only available for the three years from then. Results for 2004/05 are scheduled for publication in December 2005.
	(a) Table 1 shows the number of starts on apprenticeships or NVQ training done within a work-based learning programme in construction.
	
		Table 1: Number of starts in LSC fundedWBL provision in construction
		
			  Starts 
			  2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 
		
		
			 Advanced apprenticeships 3,800 2,900 4,600 
			 Apprenticeships at level 2 11,900 14,100 17,100 
			 NVQ training 3,900 3,300 1,200 
			 Total—any framework or NVQ 19,600 20,400 22,900 
		
	
	Note:
	Numbers may not add to totals due to founding
	(b) Table 2 shows numbers (and proportions) of learners who successfully completed LSC funded apprenticeships or NVQ training done within a work-based learning (WBL) program in construction.
	
		Table 2: Numbers of successful completers of LSC funded WBL provision in construction
		
			  Framework (x) NVQ only (y) NVQ successes (x + y) Total leavers 
			  Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage (number) 
		
		
			 Advanced apprenticeships 2001/02 2,700 (38) 1,10015 (15) 3,800 (53) 7,200 
			 Advanced apprenticeships 2002/03 1,600 (30) 1,200 (21) 2,800 (51) 5,400 
			 Advanced apprenticeships 2003/04 1,400 (27) 1,700 (32) 3,100 (59) 5,200 
			 
			 Apprenticeships at level 2 2001/02 1,700 (24) 800 (12) 2,600 (36) 7,100 
			 Apprenticeships at level 2 2002/03 1,400 (18) 1,200 (15) 2,600 (32) 8,100 
			 Apprenticeships at level 2 2003/04 2,700 (25) 1,400 (13) 4,200 (38) 10,900 
			 
			 NVQ training 2001/02 — — 1,800 (35) — — 5,100 
			 NVQ training 2002/03 — — 1,300 (32) — — 4,200 
			 NVQ training 2003/04 — — 600 (45) — — 1,400 
			 
			 Total—any framework or NVQ 2001–02 — — 8,200 — — (42) 19,400 
			 Total—any framework or NVQ 2002–03 — — 6,700 — — (38) 17,700 
			 Total—any framework or NVQ 2003–04 — — 7,900 — — (45) 17,500 
		
	
	Note: Numbers and percentages may not add up to totals due to rounding

Engagements

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills which hon. Members met (a) the Minister of State for Lifelong Learning, Further and Higher Education and (b) the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Skills to discuss further education in response to the invitation issued on 21 June 2005.

Bill Rammell: The hon. Members listed accepted an invitation to attend the open meetings with the Minister of State for Lifelong Learning, Further and Higher Education on 23 June 2005 and with the Minister of State for Lifelong Learning, Further and Higher Education and the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Skills on 28 June 2005. No formal record was made of attendance at the meetings.
	Vera Baird MP
	Brian Binley MP
	Graham Brady MP
	Annette Brooke MP
	Sir John Butterfill MP
	Ann Coffey MP
	Derek Conway MP
	Ann Cryer MP
	Philip Davies MP
	Rt Hon. John Denham MP
	Tobias Ellwood MP
	Tim Farron MP
	Rt Hon. Frank Field MP
	Barbara Follett MP
	Mark Hendrick MP
	Stephen Hesford MP
	David Howarth MP
	Susan Kramer MP
	Bob Laxton MP
	Shahid Malik MP
	Chris Mole MP
	Elliot Morley MP
	Greg Mulholland MP
	Chris Mullin MP
	Jim Paice MP
	Nick Palmer MP
	Andrew Pelling MP
	John Penrose MP
	Rt Hon. Nick Raynsford MP
	Andy Reed MP
	Alison Seabeck MP
	Andrew Selous MP
	Barry Sheerman MP
	Sarah Teather MP
	Mark Todd MP
	Theresa Villiers MP
	Dr. Rudi Vis MP
	Ben Wallace MP
	Dr. Tony Wright MP

Further Education

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will take steps to enable further education colleges to retain funding for students who have withdrawn from courses; and if she will make a statement.

Bill Rammell: Further education funding recognises the benefits to learners in completing their planned studies and the Learning and Skills Council's (LSC) funding methodology rewards institutions with higher retention rates. The LSC's agenda for change funding reform proposals include a simpler and less bureaucratic method of recognizing retention in calculating funding. I have no plans to ask the LSC to remove consideration of retention as a funding principle.

Geography

Nick Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills 
	(1)  when she expects the working group headed by Lord Adonis on the teaching of geography at primary schools to report;
	(2)  if she will list the members of the working group headed by Lord Adonis on the teaching of geography at primary schools;
	(3)  what the terms of reference are of the working group headed by Lord Adonis on the teaching of geography at primary schools.

Jacqui Smith: The Geography Focus Group, formed in 2004, is looking at ways to improve the teaching and learning of geography. Its remit covers both primary and secondary geography and the transition into higher education. The letter of invitation to Group members sent by the Royal Geographical Society and Geographical Association on behalf of the previous Secretary of State set out that
	"He is very keen that the Department gets a much stronger focus on subjects and has sought the assistance of our two organisations in doing so. Clearly this has to go hand in hand with wider policies which go across the education sector, but the need is recognised to strengthen teaching and learning within each subject, and to give teachers opportunities to pursue their own subject knowledge and pedagogic development.
	In geography, there are some challenging questions. For example, what is the unique contribution of geography to a broad and balanced education? How can we get the balance right between a solid knowledge base and well developed enquiry skills? What should young people have acquired by the age of 14, and beyond? What factors are currently impeding our progress? How can we foster the important contribution of geography to the sustainable development and international agendas?"
	The Focus Group is putting forward a set of recommendations for action for consideration at the next meeting in November 2005. Members of the Focus Group are:
	1. Dr. Rita Gardner, Director, Royal Geographical Society (with IBG)
	2. Dr. David Lambert, Chief Executive, Geographical Association
	3. Professor Andrew Goudie, Master, St. Cross College, Oxford
	4. Professor David Rhind, Vice-Chancellor, City University
	5. Helen Martin, Deputy Head, Shelley Primary School, Horsham
	6. David Rayner, Head of Geography, Rainham Mark Grammar School, Medway
	7. Dr. Mike Firth, Head, Meridian Upper School, Royston
	8. Dr. Martin Frost, Director of Geographical Analyses, National Evaluation of Sure Start
	9. Vanessa Lawrence, Director General, Ordnance Survey
	10. Dr. Caroline Bressey, Research Fellow at the Department of Geography, University College London.
	11. Barnaby Briggs, Head of Social Performance Management Unit, Shell International
	12. Alasdair Thomas, Director, Birdwing
	13. Dr. Gordon Conway, Chief Scientific Adviser, Department for International Development
	14. Dr. Nick Middleton, writer and presenter Channel 4 series "Going to Extremes" and "Surviving Extremes"

Music Teaching

Theresa May: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children have to pay to study a musical instrument at school.

Jacqui Smith: Through the National Curriculum all children have opportunities to play musical instruments, to sing, perform and compose. No child is required to pay for these opportunities.
	The Department does not collect information about how many children pay to study a musical instrument outside the classroom. However, in February this year we undertook a survey about the numbers of children who are studying music instruments through Local Authority Music Services. Findings will be available at the end of November 2005.
	The opportunity to study particular musical instruments is not part of the statutory curriculum but we are working towards creating this opportunity for every child at Key Stage 2. In November 2004, we announced an additional investment of £30 million for this work. Funds will come on stream during 2006–07 and 2007–08.

Playing with Sounds Programme

Nick Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills 
	(1)  how the phonics pilot scheme announced on 26 July differs from the phonics content of the National Primary Strategy;
	(2)  why the "Playing with sounds" programme was adopted in the phonics pilot scheme announced on 26 July;
	(3)  if she will list the 200 schools in the phonics pilot scheme; and how those schools were selected;
	(4)  what training in phonics teaching will be given to the teachers and teaching assistants in the 200 schools in the phonics pilot scheme announced on 26 July.

Jacqui Smith: "Playing with sounds" has been adopted for use in the Early Reading Development Pilots as it is the Primary National Strategy's (PNS) most up to date guidance on the teaching of phonics, incorporating various recommendations arising from the expert phonics seminar convened by the Department in 2003. The purpose of the pilots is principally to test certain aspects of the teaching of phonics such as determining an appropriately fast pace, and exploring different models of support to schools and ways of enhancing parental involvement. The pilots are not seeking to examine the evidence for different phonics teaching methodologies currently available; Jim Rose's independent review of the teaching of early reading will look at those wider questions.
	The content of "Playing with sounds" builds on advice given in previous PNS publications and represents the Strategy's latest guidance to schools. The content of the phonics pilots is therefore the same as the advice given by the Strategy. Where it differs is that it explores a more rigorous and systematic application of these approaches with greater emphasis on the "Playing with sounds" resource, and more direct guidance on teaching phonics and the application of phonics across the curriculum. It also tests whether children can learn all 44 phonemes, including the long vowel sounds, by the end of the foundation stage, as part of a rich and relevant early years curriculum
	In addition to the materials and support already available to all schools, practitioners from the schools and key linked settings which take part in the pilot will receive intensive support from an "Early Reading" consultant employed through the local authority who will work alongside practitioners and deliver training in the suggested accelerated approach to the teaching of phonics within an appropriate foundation stage curriculum and context. The precise consultancy model will be determined locally drawing on local capacity of leading practitioners. Participating schools and settings will receive guidance materials produced by the Primary National Strategy.
	The list of schools involved in the pilots is not yet complete. I will write to the hon. Member once the information has been collated and will place a copy in the Library of the House. The 20 local authorities involved in the pilot will each decide on which schools and settings should take part, supported by colleagues from the PNS, based on several factors. These include their capacity and commitment to engage with the pilot throughout the school or setting; a need to improve children's outcomes in communication, language and literacy, while already having at least a satisfactory quality of teaching in the foundation stage; and the potential for at least two of the 10 schools/settings identified in the authority to become leading practice schools/settings which can build long-term capacity in early reading in the authority area.

Student Finance

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will make a statement on the grants available to those students who are unable to afford university fees.

Bill Rammell: holding answer 20 October 2005
	From the 2006/07 academic year, no eligible full-time undergraduate student in higher education will be required to contribute towards their tuition fees while they are studying. Students entering higher education in 2006/07 will be liable for variable fees of up to £3,000; but they will also be able to take out student loans to cover those fees and only pay them off once they are in employment and earning at least £15,000 per year and so able to afford to repay. Eligible students from low income families will also be eligible for a new maintenance grant of up to £2,700, and those who are charged the maximum £3,000 fee will also be eligible for a bursary of at least £300 from their institution. Indeed, most institutions have been significantly more generous than that with bursaries of up to £3,000, and in some exceptional cases up to £5,700.
	In 2005/06, full-time undergraduate students attending courses at publicly funded higher education institutions are eligible for a grant of up to £1,175 towards their fees, the actual amount to which they are entitled depending upon the level of their household income. Students who are attending courses at privately funded institutions will be eligible for a non income assessed grant of £1,100 towards the full fee charged by their institution.
	For part-time undergraduate students in 2006/07 there will be an increase of 27 per cent. in the grant for fees as compared to 2005/06. This will mean that a student studying at an intensity of 75 per cent. of the equivalent full-time course who is eligible for £885 in 2005/06 could receive up to £1,125 in 2006/07. In addition, the course grant of up to £250, introduced in 2004/05, will continue to be available.
	As well as improvements to statutory support in 2006/07, Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) will be provided with additional discretionary funding for fee support. This approach will allow HEIs the flexibility to decide how best to use this resource and support those students who most need extra help.

Student Finance

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans the Department has for increasing assistance to university students, with particular reference to those studying for foundation degrees.

Bill Rammell: holding answer 20 October 2005
	Students studying for foundation degrees are eligible for the same package of support as students on other higher education courses and they can continue to receive support if they follow up their foundation degree course with study for an honours degree.
	From 2006, new full-time undergraduate students with household incomes between £17,500 and £37,425 will be eligible for a new non-repayable maintenance grant of up to £2,700. The poorest students who are entitled to the full £2,700 maintenance grant and who are being charged the maximum £3,000 fee will also be entitled to a minimum institutional bursary of £300. However, most institutions will be offering much more than this with bursaries of up to £3,000, and some will be offering as much as £5,700.
	Students will also be able to apply for maintenance loans which, for 2006, are being increased at a rate well above the rate of inflation. For students living away from home in London, this increase will be as much as 19.2 per cent. when compared with 2005 rates.
	From 2006, eligible students will not have to pay tuition fees while they are studying. Instead, they will be able to take out a non-means tested loan to cover their fees.
	For part-time undergraduate students in 2006/07, there will be an increase of 27 per cent. in the grant for fees as compared to 2005/06. This will mean that a student studying at an intensity of 75 per cent. of the equivalent full-time course who is eligible for £885 in 2005/06 could receive up to £1,125 in 2006/07. In addition, the course grant of up to £250, introduced in 2004/05, will continue to be available.

ELECTORAL COMMISSION COMMITTEE

Speaker's Committee

Theresa Villiers: To ask the hon. Member for Gosport, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission when the Speaker's Committee last reported to the House on the exercise of its functions.

Peter Viggers: The Speaker's Committee Second Report 2005, which covers its general work over the period from 1 December 2004 to the Prorogation of Parliament on 7 April 2005, was laid before the House on 21 July 2005 as House of Commons Paper No. 435. Copies have been placed in the Library and are available in the Vote Office.

ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Avian Influenza

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  what advice she has issued to large (a) outdoor, (b) free-range and (c) organic farmers on avoiding avian influenza;
	(2)  what advice on avian influenza she plans to issue to poultry keepers;
	(3)  what advice on biosecurity measures her Department has issued to (a) duck and waterfowl and (b) poultry keepers on the prevention of avian influenza.

Ben Bradshaw: Comprehensive biosecurity guidance has been available on the Defra website since 2003. It was sent most recently to a wide range of industry organisations in August. We have been working with key stakeholders to draw up fuller guidance to keepers on assessing their risks, biosecurity and worker protection which we are issuing to poultry groups. This guidance has already been published on our website.

Avian Influenza

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans she has for compensation to owners of flocks which (a) contract and (b) are culled as a result of avian influenza.

Ben Bradshaw: The Animal Health Act provides for compensation to be paid for the value of the birds immediately before slaughter, other than diseased poultry, slaughtered following an outbreak of avian influenza.

Avian Influenza

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimates she has made of how many (a) chickens, (b) ducks, (c) geese, (d) turkeys, (e) pheasants, (f) partridges, (g) pet birds and (h) wild birds are at risk from an avian influenza epidemic.

Ben Bradshaw: Defra's agricultural statistics give the latest information for 2004 as 123,622,345 chickens, 2,892,612 ducks, 161,695 geese, 6,568,800 turkeys and 3,452,309 other birds (including pheasants, partridges, quail and ratites). Information on pet and wild birds is not recorded.
	We currently assess the risk of Al entering the UK as low. However it is a developing situation and we are monitoring it closely as well as stepping up our work on surveillance, biosecurity and emergency preparedness.

Avian Influenza

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on measures in place to combat avian influenza.

Ben Bradshaw: We currently assess the risk of highly pathogenic avian influenza entering the UK as low. However it is a developing situation and we are monitoring it closely as well as stepping up our work on surveillance, biosecurity and emergency preparedness.
	The Government have significantly enhanced the arrangements for surveillance of wild birds, including the investigation of die-offs and sampling at shoots and wetlands. The arrangements have been agreed as part of coordinated efforts across the European Union.
	The EU has also banned all imports of birds and poultry-related products, except unprocessed feathers, from countries affected by highly pathogenic avian influenza. Her Majesty's Customs and Revenue are enhancing checks of luggage of passengers travelling from Romania and Turkey.
	Defra has recently reviewed and updated its contingency plans and, following a period of public consultation, the Exotic Animal Disease Generic Contingency Plan, which includes a section dealing specifically with an outbreak of avian influenza. The plan is regularly tested and was laid before Parliament on 21 July 2005. It is also available on the Defra website. In the event of an outbreak in GB the plan would be invoked immediately.

Avian Influenza

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what contingency planning has been undertaken in Somerset to protect against an outbreak of Avian Influenza; and if she will make a statement.

Ben Bradshaw: holding answer 20 October 2005
	DEFRA's Exotic Animal Disease Generic Contingency Plan outlines the Department's response to an outbreak of Avian Influenza among other notifiable animal diseases. The plan was laid before Parliament on 21 July.
	The Taunton office of the state veterinary service held a contingency planning exercise, together with their operational partners and stakeholders, including the local authority and the National Farmers Union, on 17 to 19 October to test emergency preparedness. This is part of the routine programme of testing by the state veterinary service across Great Britain.

Broiler Chickens

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what discussions she has had with European Union ministers about the conditions in which broiler chickens are kept in the UK; and if she will make a statement.

Ben Bradshaw: I welcome the European Commission's proposal for a directive on the welfare of broiler chickens and look forward to working with the Commission and other member states to make further progress during our current Presidency of the EU Council of Ministers.
	The proposal seeks to balance real welfare benefits for broilers and the economic, social and environmental impacts. It takes account of the latest scientific evidence, veterinary advice, consumer concerns and industry practice. DEFRA has recently concluded a full public consultation on the proposal, which will help to inform our thinking.

Municipal Waste

Daniel Rogerson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what percentage of municipal waste collection in England (a) went to landfill, (b) was incinerated, including with energy recovery, (c) was recycled and composted and (d) was dealt with by other means in 2004–05.

Ben Bradshaw: Data for 2004–05 municipal waste disposal methods are not available.
	The latest available data is for 2003–04 from the Defra Municipal Waste Management Survey. This survey shows the following disposal method percentages in England:
	
		
			  Percentage 
		
		
			 (a) Landfilled 71.9 
			 (b) Incinerated(9) 8.9 
			 (c) Recycled and composted 19.0 
			 (d) Other 0.1 
		
	
	(9) With and without energy recovery.
	Note:
	Percentages may not add due to rounding.

Recycling

Edward Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the Answer of 10 October 2005, Official Report, column 148W, on recycling, what statistics the Department collects on (a) school and (b) local education authority recycling programmes.

Ben Bradshaw: Information on recyclable waste is provided to DEFRA by local authorities. This will include waste from schools and other educational establishments where it comes under the control of the local authority. However, local authorities are not requested by DEFRA to record such recycling separately from that collected from households and other premises. Therefore the statistics requested are not held centrally.

Recycling

Ashok Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  what percentage of household refuse was recycled in (a) England, (b) the Tees Valley and (c) Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland in each of the last five years;
	(2)  what percentage of commercial refuse was recycled in (a) England, (b) the Tees Valley and (c) Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland in each of the last five years.

Ben Bradshaw: Results from the 2003–04 DEFRA Municipal Waste Management Survey show that 17.7 per cent. of household waste was recycled or composted in England. Data for the Tees Valley shows that 10.8 per cent. was recycled or composted and in the local authority of Middlesborough 5.3 per cent. was recycled or composted. Information is not available for the Middlesborough South and East Cleveland parliamentary constituency.
	The latest information for commercial waste is from the Environment Agency's 2002–03 National Waste Production Survey. Results show that 36.6 per cent. of commercial waste was recycled or reused in England. In the Tees Valley 27.9 per cent. of commercial waste was recycled or reused. Information is not available at parliamentary constituency, or local authority level.

Ship-breaking

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many applications for permission to undertake ship-breaking of Government-owned vessels, compliant with the current environmental legislation, have been received by her Department; and what permit is required.

Ben Bradshaw: Ship recycling facilities are permitted for the activity of ship recycling rather than for specific vessels, although there may be licence or permit conditions that limit the size of vessels that can be recycled. The licences and permits required for ship recycling depend on the location of the facility, any work needed to adapt the facility, the wastes arising from the recycling process and the nature of any existing licences and permits.
	It can generally be expected that a ship recycling facility will require planning permission, a waste management licence and permits under the Food And Environment Protection Act 1985 (FEPA). However, other permits may also be required.
	The Marine Environment Consents Unit, DEFRA, has responsibility for licences and consents under FEPA and has, for example, received three applications from Able UK, for construction of the dry dock, the disposal of dredged material and for extension of a jetty. An assessment of these applications cannot be made until a revised environmental statement is submitted to support the applications.

Veterinary Surgeons

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what research she has evaluated on the age range of veterinary surgeons; and what discussions she has had with the Department for Education and Skills on ensuring that there is a sufficient supply of newly trained veterinary surgeons.

Ben Bradshaw: My Department has not made a specific study of the age range of veterinary surgeons or discussed the matter with the Department for Education and Skills. However, following the publication, in October 2003, of the EFRA Committee's report on "Vets and Veterinary Services" the Department commissioned a report, by Westley Consulting. This covered a broad range of issues affecting the veterinary profession, and in particular, large animal practice.
	The Westley report concluded that there is no shortage of veterinary students but explored the reasons why some graduates do not remain in farm animal practice. The Westley report also said that the retirement of older vets over the next few years may lead to a big reduction in large animal manpower and expertise and in the willingness of many practices to carry on with it.
	It is important that we understand the demographics of the veterinary profession. The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons have recently sent my Department a draft Manpower Survey, which we are currently considering. We will continue to work closely with the profession on these issues, principally through the recently formed vets and veterinary services working group.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

China

Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent representations he has made to China regarding human rights issues.

Ian Pearson: We regularly raise human rights issues with the Chinese Government. My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary discussed a Tibet-related issue with Foreign Minister Li in New York in September. The UK, as EU Presidency, will take the lead in the next round of the EU China Human Rights Dialogue which will take place in Beijing on 24 October.

Timor-Leste

Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the United Nations report on the prosecution of serious violations of human rights committed in Timor-Leste in 1999.

Ian Pearson: This report was commissioned by the United Nations Secretary-General (UNSG) and the final report submitted to him. It was discussed by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) in August 2005.
	The UNSC has requested the views of the UNSG before holding any further discussion of the report.

HEALTH

Alzheimer's

Fraser Kemp: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the cost of drugs to treat Alzheimer's disease on the NHS is per patient per day; and if she will make a statement.

Jane Kennedy: Four drugs are licensed for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease in the United Kingdom—Donepezil Hydrochloride (Aricept), Galantamine (Reminyl), Memantine Hydrochloride (Ebixa) and Rivastigamine (Exelon).
	The Department does not hold information on the number of patients receiving a treatment. However, the average cost per prescription item of Alzheimer's drugs dispensed in the community in England in 2004 was £85. This includes items prescribed by general practitioners and hospital doctors providing the drug was dispensed in the community. The data exclude drugs dispensed in hospitals. Typically, a prescription item is for 28 days treatment which suggests that it costs £3 a day, or around £1,000 a year to treat one patient with these drugs.

Ambulance Staff

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps have been taken to protect ambulance staff in Essex from violence and verbal abuse while on duty.

Rosie Winterton: The NHS Security Management Service (NHS SMS) has policy and operational responsibility for the management of security in the national health service including Essex, including work to tackle violence against NHS staff. In November 2003, a comprehensive range of measures were introduced by the NHS SMS to proactively and reactively tackle the problem of violence against NHS staff, including those that work in the ambulance services. Since that time, an estimated 85,000 frontline NHS staff have been trained to prevent and manage violence and the number of prosecutions identified involving those who have physically assaulted staff has risen from 51 in 2002–03 to 759 in 2004–05. The NHS SMS is currently working on a project with the Home Office specifically to look at how technology and other interventions can better protect ambulance staff.

Artwork

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much money was spent on purchasing artwork in each hospital trust in each of the last 24 months.

Jane Kennedy: Data is not collected centrally on the particular purchase of artwork, but information is provided annually by national health service trusts on the amount invested in arts and art projects, including labour, material and resources received from other organisations. Information covering these returns for 2003–04 and 2004–05 has been placed in the Library.
	The data provided has not been amended centrally and the accuracy of this data is the responsibility of the provider organisation. Data for 2003–04 was provided as part of a mandatory data set. The information for 2004–05 was provided by trusts on a voluntary basis as part of the initiative to reduce bureaucracy in the national health service.

Asylum Seekers (Mental Health)

Nicholas Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the prevalence of mental health problems among refused asylum seekers.

Rosie Winterton: holding answer 18 October 2005
	No formal assessment has been made of the prevalence of mental health problems among refused asylum seekers. However, on-going research on this issue will inform the development of a resource pack to assist service commissioners and health professionals in meeting the mental health needs of asylum seekers and refugees, in line with the Department's "Delivering Race Equality" action plan.

Blind People (Rehabilitation)

Fraser Kemp: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will review the training facilities available for people working to rehabilitate blind people; and if she will make a statement.

Liam Byrne: The Department has no plans to review the training facilities available for people working to rehabilitate blind people. Professional bodies determine the content of training courses and it is for local health and social care bodies to ensure their staff are appropriately trained.

Cancer Treatment

Graham Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether it is her Department's policy for women suffering from breast cancer to have access to a local breast care service for on-going care.

Rosie Winterton: In 2002, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence updated the Department's 1996 improving outcomes in breast cancer guidance.
	The guidance recommends that expert care should be available locally for all patients with breast cancer. How this is achieved, will be a matter for local decision and will vary from place to place.

Cancer Treatment

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what representations she has received regarding waiting times for cancer treatment in East Sussex.

Caroline Flint: holding answer 17 October 2005
	A search of the Department's correspondence and Parliamentary questions database shows that, since June 2005, there have been six questions from hon. and right hon. Members and one Private Office case.
	The Government are keen to ensure that all patients have equal access to national health service treatment and the "NHS Cancer Plan", published in September 2000, sets out our strategy to reduce waiting times for cancer patients.
	It is the responsibility of the local NHS organisations, in conjunction with their cancer networks, to plan and develop cancer services which are of high clinical quality, timely and patient-centred. Surrey and Sussex Strategic Health Authority has advised that NHS organisations in East Sussex are committed to delivering a cancer service fit for the 21st century and that they continue to work together to improve cancer services for patients.

Care Homes (Diet)

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will take steps to ensure that free, fresh, chilled drinking water is available to all care home residents throughout the day as part of the Department's review of national minimum standards.

Liam Byrne: The issue of availability of fresh drinking water for care home residents has been raised as part of the review and is currently being considered.
	A full public consultation on the proposed changes to the national minimum standards and accompanying regulations will take place next year.

Chiropody (Bedfordshire)

Nadine Dorries: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent assessment she has made of chiropody services in Bedfordshire; and if she will make a statement.

Rosie Winterton: No central assessment has been made of chiropody services in Bedfordshire. Access to chiropody is a matter for primary care trusts, which have responsibility for implementing the national standards, as identified in the national service frameworks. Chiropody is one of the multidisciplinary services that should be considered in the implementation of national standards.

Clostridium Difficile

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the (a) terms of reference and (b) timetable are for the inquiry by the Healthcare Commission into the outbreak of Clostridium difficile at Stoke Mandeville Hospital; and if she will make a statement.

Jane Kennedy: The terms of reference for the Healthcare Commission investigation into Buckinghamshire Hospitals National Health Service Trust (Stoke Mandeville Hospital) are:
	"The Healthcare Commission will investigate outbreaks of Clostridium difficile at Stoke Mandeville and the trust's systems and procedures for the control of infection.
	The investigation will also consider the wider context of Clostridium difficile, including relevant statistics and learning from outbreaks elsewhere, nationally and internationally.
	The investigation will include in particular an examination of:
	All cases of infection with the toxigenic strains of Clostridium difficile bacterium which occurred at Stoke Mandeville Hospital from 1 November 2003, whether they were acquired at the hospital and factors contributing to the outbreaks,
	Actions to identify the presence of infection with the bacterium and to notify the relevant agencies,
	Actions taken to control and arrest the spread of the bacterium,
	Management actions in relation to the above,
	Roles, responsibilities and actions of the relevant NHS agencies,
	The local and national context in which the trust is operating, including national guidance and policy, and
	Any other matters which the Healthcare Commission considers arise out of, or are connected with, the matters above.
	The Healthcare Commission will publish a report on the findings of the investigation and will make recommendations as appropriate to the trust and other relevant bodies to ensure that best practice on hospital acquired infections is shared at a local and national level."
	These were published on 21 July 2005 and are available on the Healthcare Commission's website at: www.healthcarecommission.org.uk/assetRoot/04/01/87/05/04018705.pdf.
	The investigation is currently under way. An interim report on Clostridium difficile is expected before the end of the year and the final investigation report is expected to be published by the Healthcare Commission in spring 2006.

Correspondence

Clare Short: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when the Minister of State for NHS Delivery will reply to the letter of 18 May from the right hon. Member for Birmingham, Ladywood requesting a meeting to discuss the duty of care and responsibility for failed asylum seekers.

Jane Kennedy: I have now sent a reply to the right hon. Member with sincere apologies for the delay, which was due to the changes in ministerial portfolios following the general election.

Dentistry

Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average cost to the NHS of dental access centres per patient episode is.

Rosie Winterton: The Department only holds information on its central contribution to dental access centres and does not hold full cost information, which includes any primary care trust (PCT) contribution and patient charge revenue. The Department does not have complete data from PCTs on patient throughput in dental access centres. However, based on the Department's total central contribution to the cost of dental access centres and the available data on patient throughput, the estimated average cost per patient episode in 2004–05 was a maximum of £141.

Dentistry

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of (a) adults and (b) children in the Greater Peterborough Primary Care Partnership area had access to an NHS dentist in (i) 2002, (ii) 2003 and (iii) 2004; and if she will make a statement.

Rosie Winterton: The estimated percentages of child, adult and total population in the areas covered by North and South Peterborough Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) registered with general dental services (GDS) and personal dental services (PDS) in 2002, 2003 and 2004 are shown in the table.
	
		Percentage
		
			  Child Adult All 
			 PCT GDS PDS GDS PDS GDS PDS 
		
		
			 March 2002   
			 North Peterborough 66 0 63 0 64 0 
			 South Peterborough 56 0 33 0 39 0 
			 England 62 1 44 0 48 0 
			
			 March 2003   
			 North Peterborough 71 0 64 0 66 0 
			 South Peterborough 54 0 28 0 34 0 
			 England 62 1 44 0 48 1 
			
			 March 2004   
			 North Peterborough 71 0 66 0 67 0 
			 South Peterborough 53 0 29 0 34 0 
			 England 60 2 43 1 47 I 
		
	
	A dental action plan is in place. This has helped with the recruitment of six dentists from Poland, who are now working in Peterborough. There is also a dental access centre in Peterborough. PDS contracts are expected to increase dental registrations by 20 per cent. In addition, one new practice opened in May 2005 and one further new PDS practice is due to open in the next six months. There are also plans for an existing dentist to open a new branch in a deprived area of the city.

Departmental Finance

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the latest estimate is of underspend by her Department (a) in cash terms and (b) as a percentage of departmental budget for financial year 2004–05.

Liam Byrne: The latest estimate of outturn was published in the Public Expenditure Outturn White Paper 2004–05 (Cm 6639).

Diabetes

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps the Government are taking to inform pregnant women with diabetes of the potential risks of their disease to their child.

Rosie Winterton: The diabetes and the children, young people and maternity services national service framework set out the standards of care that women with diabetes should receive before, during and after pregnancy.
	All women with diabetes of childbearing age should be offered, at least once a year, information and advice about the risks associated with pregnancy and how to go about reducing those risks. This should be integrated into all women's routine diabetes care.

Diabetes

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much her Department spent on advertising and promoting awareness of diabetes in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

Rosie Winterton: Funding is made available to national health service services to implement services locally and as a result, general awareness campaigns are more likely to be developed locally in primary care trusts and hospitals rather than centrally.

Digital Hearing Aids

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what the average waiting time for a digital hearing aid assessment for non-priority patients is at (a) the University Hospital of North Staffordshire and (b) NHS hospitals; and what her Department's target is;
	(2)  what the University Hospital of North Staffordshire's budget is for the provision of digital hearing aids to patients for year ending 31 March in (a) 2006, (b) 2007, (c) 2008 and (d) 2009;
	(3)  what the cost was in the year ended 31 March 2005 of the provision of digital hearing aids by the University Hospital of North Staffordshire;
	(4)  how many digital hearing aids the University Hospital of North Staffordshire has planned to provide to patients for the year ending 31 March (a) 2006, (b) 2007, (c) 2008 and (d) 2009;
	(5)  how many digital hearing aids the University Hospital of North Staffordshire has provided to patients in the year ended 31 March 2005;
	(6)  how many people are on the waiting list for a digital hearing aid assessment at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire;
	(7)  what the current waiting time is for a digital hearing aid assessment at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire for (a) patients who are registered blind, (b) patients who are terminally ill, (c) patients at risk at work, (d) patients receiving a war pension during hearing loss, (e) non-priority patients requiring a new hearing aid and (f) new non-priority patients;
	(8)  what the current waiting time is after assessment for the fitting of a digital hearing aid at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire for (a) patients who are registered blind, (b) patients who are terminally ill, (c) patients at risk at work, (d) patients receiving a war pension, (e) non-priority patients requiring a new hearing aid and (f) new non-priority patients.

Liam Byrne: The Department has invested £125 million in the modernising hearing aid services (MHAS) project since 2000. As a result, from April 2005 all 164 national health service audiology services in England should be routinely fitting digital hearing aids.
	Information on waiting times and local funding for provision of digital hearing aids is not held centrally.

Doctor Training

Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much it cost to train a doctor resident in the UK in the last period for which figures are available.

Liam Byrne: In the period between entry to medical school and full registration, it is estimated that training a doctor costs between £200,000 and £250,000. Doctors generally continue training after full registration. As the duration and nature of post-registration training varies greatly and as service and training costs are closely related it is not possible to provide a meaningful estimate of the total cost of training.

Doctor Training

Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many UK-trained doctors she estimates are seeking a senior house officer posting.

Liam Byrne: Information on the number of United Kingdom trained doctors who have not yet found a senior house officer post is not collected centrally.
	A snapshot survey of postgraduate deaneries established that as at early August 2005, 136 pre-registration house officers (PRHOs) in England did not have a substantive senior house officer (SHO) or equivalent post to move to upon the expiry of their PRHO contract. This number had reduced to around 100 by early September 2005 and we expect it to have reduced further as more SHO opportunities become available.

Doctor Training

Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what advice is given to junior doctors without senior house officer posts on what course of action they should take to ensure that they can complete their training; and if she will make a statement.

Liam Byrne: Junior doctors seeking senior house officer posts may obtain career advice from the clinical tutor of their local trust or from their regional postgraduate dean. Career information is available on postgraduate deanery websites. Vacant senior house officer posts are advertised every week.
	Provision of accessible and robust career advice is also one of the key aims of the modernising medical careers initiative. As a result, each postgraduate deanery in England has been allocated £73,200 in 2005–06 to establish career advice support systems in each deanery. We have also published Career Management—An approach for medical schools, deaneries, royal colleges and trusts—a document that presents an approach to the delivery of career management initiatives for doctors. It is intended primarily for medical schools, postgraduate deaneries, employing trusts, royal colleges and other key stakeholders in doctors' careers.

Down's Syndrome

Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many children have been born with Down's syndrome in each year since 1980.

John Healey: I have been asked to reply.
	The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician who has been asked to reply.
	Letter from Karen Dunnell to Julia Goldsworthy, dated 21 October 2005
	As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking how many children have been born with Down's syndrome in each year since 1980. (18312)
	The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is responsible for maintaining the National Congenital Anomaly System (NCAS) notifications in England and Wales. These notifications are collected for live and stillbirths and are provided by NHS Trusts on a voluntary basis either directly to ONS on form SD56 or via local congenital anomaly registers that exchange data with ONS.
	These registers cover all births in Wales, but only 42 per cent. of births in England. Their information is obtained from both the SD56 form and additional information collected locally. For areas for which NCAS relies solely on SD56 notification forms recording is likely to be less complete. In 1997 there were no registers exchanging information with NCAS. In each of the years detailed below, NCAS began receiving more complete information from the local congenital anomaly registers listed:
	1998 CARIS (Wales)
	1999 East Midlands and South Yorkshire Congenital Anomaly Register
	2000 North Thames (West) Congenital Malformation Register
	2000 Merseyside and Cheshire Congenital Anomaly Survey
	2002 Wessex Clinical Genetics Service
	2002 Congenital Anomaly Register for Oxfordshire, Berkshire & Buckinghamshire
	2003 Northern Congenital Abnormality Survey
	2003 South West Congenital Anomaly Register
	As a result, numbers of notifications recorded by NCAS increased for each of these regions in the year listed above.
	Figures for babies notified to NCAS that were born with Down's syndrome from 1980 to 2003 (latest available year) are given in the attached table.
	
		Number of babies with Down syndrome notified to the National Congenital Anomaly System, England and Wales 1980–2003
		
			  Number Rate(10) 
		
		
			 1980 481 7.3 
			 1981 475 7.4 
			 1982 527 8.4 
			 1983 497 7.9 
			 1984 505 7.9 
			 1985 442 6.7 
			 1986 445 6.7 
			 1987 459 6.7 
			 1988 428 6.1 
			 1989 487 7.0 
			 1990 415 5.9 
			 1991 440 6.3 
			 1992 394 5.7 
			 1993 311 4.6 
			 1994 317 4.7 
			 1995 320 4.9 
			 1996 359 5.5 
			 1997 417 6.5 
			 1998 460 7.2 
			 1999 427 6.8 
			 2000 416 6.8 
			 2001 383 6.4 
			 2002 358 6.0 
			 2003 374 6.0 
		
	
	(10) per 10,000 live and stillbirths
	Source:
	National Congenital Anomaly System

Drug Addicts (Hemel Hempstead)

Michael Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make a statement on her Department's (a) facilities and (b) funding in 2005–06 for rehabilitation of illegal drug users in the Hemel Hempstead constituency.

Rosie Winterton: The support services for drug users in Hemel Hempstead, as advised by the National Treatment Agency East of England are:
	Community drug and alcohol team. Statutory service, providing tier three interventions, including prescribing.
	Drug-link. Non-statutory service, providing a range of interventions, including tier two interventions, a structured day programme and a residential rehabilitation service. Drug-link also has satellite services around Hemel Hempstead.
	Hertfordshire Alcohol Problems Advisory Service. Non Stat alcohol service providing advice, information and counselling.
	A shared care scheme with local general practitioners.
	The details of funding for rehabilitation services, is not collected by constituency, but by county, where in 2005–06:
	Hertfordshire's adult pooled drug treatment budget allocation in 2005–06 is £3,787,000. The 2005–06 young people's pooled drug treatment budget allocation of £334,000, a total allocation of £4,121,000.
	It is estimated that an additional £3,202,000 will be made available from other funding streams for the provision of drug treatment in Hertfordshire in 2005–06.
	Source
	Of information: Hertfordshire Drug Action team Treatment Plan.

Expert Witnesses

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what discussions she has had with the Royal College of Paediatricians about establishing an accreditation scheme for expert witnesses; and if she will make a statement.

Liam Byrne: The former Secretary of State for Health, my right hon. Friend John Reid, met with the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) in October 2004, when I understand the subject of the supply and quality of medical expert witnesses was discussed. I expect to meet with the president of the RCPCH on 14 November to discuss a range of issues, during which this subject may arise. I am also awaiting the imminent arrival of the Chief Medical Officer's report on the supply and quality of medical expert witnesses. I anticipate his report will address the issues concerning an accreditation scheme, and suggest a way forward.

GPs/Dentistry (Kettering)

Philip Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many residents in the Kettering constituency were registered with (a) a general practitioner and (b) an NHS dentist in each year since 1997.

Rosie Winterton: holding answer 19 October 2005
	The information requested is shown in the tables.
	
		Registered general practitioner patients
		
			  Leicestershire Northamptonshire and Rutland Strategic Health Authority Northamptonshire Heartlands Primary Care Trust (PCT) 
		
		
			 1997 1,570,551 n/a 
			 1998 1,586,682 n/a 
			 1999 1,549,332 n/a 
			 2000 1,544,457 n/a 
			 2001 1,564,462 280,117 
			 2002 1,568,323 284,662 
			 2003 1,589,516 285,675 
			 2004 1,583,123 287,476 
		
	
	n/a—data not available.
	Source:
	National Health Service Health and Social Care Information Centre general and personal medical services statistics.
	
		Number of residents in the Kettering constituency were registered with a national health service dentist in each year since 1997
		
			  Child Adult All 
		
		
			 1997 15,952 42,767 58,719 
			 1998 15,328 40,559 55,887 
			 1999 15,296 40,740 56,036 
			 2000 15,749 42,695 58,444 
			 2001 15,858 42,712 58,570 
			 2002 16,271 44,363 60,634 
			 2003 16,301 43,998 60,299 
			 2004 15,819 41,755 57,574 
			 2005 15,780 38,157 53,937 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. The drop in registrations between September 1997 and September 1998 is mostly attributable to the reduction in re-registration period from two years to 12 months.
	2. Most personal dental service (PDS) schemes that have registrations have a re-registration period in excess of 15 months, so the figures for PDS schemes are generally higher than they would have been for the same attendance pattern under general dental service (CDS).
	3. Prison contracts have not been included in this analysis.
	4. A dentist with a GDS or PDS contract may provide as little or as much NHS treatment as he or she chooses or agreed with the PCT.
	5. The Dental Practice Board has no information concerning the amount of time dedicated to NHS work by individual dentists.
	6. The areas have been defined using practice postcodes within the current boundaries.
	Source:
	Dental Practice Board.

Herceptin/Velcade

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether people who have already been diagnosed with breast cancer will be eligible for the test to see whether their tumours are susceptible to treatment with Herceptin.

Rosie Winterton: The Secretary of State for Heath recently announced that from early October 2005 the HER2 test, which identifies whether someone with breast cancer will benefit from Herceptin, will be made available to everyone newly diagnosed with early breast cancer.
	For those patients who have already been diagnosed with breast cancer, it will be for the clinicians concerned to decide whether to use the HER2 test, based on factors such as the extent of the disease, previous treatment experience, the patient's fitness and what the patient wants.

Herceptin/Velcade

John Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether NHS trusts have the option of funding (a) Herceptin and (b) Velcade pending the appraisal by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.

Jane Kennedy: holding answer 10 October 2005
	Herceptin is not yet licensed for early breast cancer. It is a matter for local decision between the clinician and funding authorities concerned whether Herceptin for early breast cancer should be prescribed for an individual patient.
	Herceptin has already been licensed and approved by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) for use in women with late stage breast cancer.
	Velcade is licensed for the treatment of adults with cancer of the bone marrow, or multiple myeloma, who have received at least one prior treatment and whose disease is worsening on their last treatment.
	In July, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State announced that Velcade would be referred to NICE in advance of its next programme. In the interim, there are no national restrictions on prescribing Velcade on the national health service for patients who fit the licensed indication. It is a matter for local decision.
	Funding for licensed treatments should not be withheld because guidance from NICE is unavailable. In these circumstances, we expect primary care trusts (PCTs) to take full account of available evidence when reaching funding decisions. This is confirmed in "Health Service Circular 1999/176", which asks NHS bodies to continue with local arrangements for the managed introduction of new technologies where guidance from NICE is not available at the time the treatment or technology first became available.

Hospital Infections

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many cases of e-coli have been identified in hospitals within Greater London in each year since 2000, broken down by NHS trust.

Jane Kennedy: The Department does not hold this information. E coli is not part of the mandatory surveillance system.

Hospital Staffing

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the ratio was of trained paediatric nursing staff to patients in hospitals in the Barking, Havering and Redbridge NHS Trust in the last year for which figures are available.

Jane Kennedy: The ratio of trained paediatric nursing staff to patients is not held. However, the table shows the number of qualified nursing staff in Barking, Havering and Redbridge National Health Service Trust as at 30 September 2004 which is the latest data available.
	
		NHS hospital and community health services:Qualified paediatric nursing staff at 30 September 2004
		
			  RF4—Barking, Havering and Redbridge Hospitals NHS Trust 
		
		
			 Full-time equivalent 70 
			 Headcount 89 
		
	
	Source:
	Health and Social Care Information Centre Non-Medical Workforce Census 2004

Hospital Staffing

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what budget provisions have been made for the employment of (a) doctors, (b) nurses and (c) other staff at the New Oldchurch Hospital, Romford for the 2006–07 financial year.

Rosie Winterton: The information requested is not held centrally. It is for primary care trusts to determine how they spend their revenue allocations based on the needs of the local population.

Independent Living Funds

Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress is being made in setting up pilots for independent living funds announced in the strategy unit report on transforming the life chances of disabled people.

Liam Byrne: holding answer 17 October 2005
	There are no plans to set up pilots for independent living funds. However, the strategy unit report did announce pilots for individual budgets. The first individual budget pilot will focus on older people and will begin in December this year. The remaining sites, of which there will be around 12, are in the process of being selected. They will come on stream throughout 2006 and will continue for between 18 months and two years.
	The programme of pilots is being developed with input from stakeholders, including people who use services, and an academic research and evaluation team. The pilots are being comprehensively evaluated in order to ensure that they can provide us with the evidence we need to make decisions about a future roll-out.

Locum Doctors

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether she plans to grant negotiating rights to the Locum Doctors Association.

Liam Byrne: We have no plans at present to grant negotiating rights to the Locum Doctors' Association.

Male Breast Reduction

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many male breast reduction operations were carried out in the last year for which figures are available.

Jane Kennedy: pursuant to the reply, 17 October 2005, Official Report, c. 764W
	There were 61 finished consultant episodes (a period of admitted patient care under one consultant within one healthcare provide) during 2003–04 of male breast reduction operations provided by the national health service for clinical reasons. These figures do not represent the number of patients, as a person may have more than one episode of care within the year. The Department does not collect figures on male breast reduction operations carried out in the independent sector for cosmetic reasons.

Medical Training (Anatomy)

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the impact of the changes introduced in "Tomorrow's Doctors", published by the General Medical Council in 1993, on the standards of doctors' training, with specific reference to knowledge of anatomy.

Liam Byrne: The General Medical Council's (CMC) recommendations on undergraduate medical education contained in "Tomorrow's Doctors" the latest version of which was published in July 2002, provide a valuable framework for medical schools to use in designing detailed curricula and schemes of assessment. It clearly sets out the standards that the GMC will use to judge the quality of undergraduate teaching and assessments at individual medical schools.
	The publication of "Tomorrow's Doctors" signalled a significant change in emphasis from gaining knowledge to a learning process that includes the ability to evaluate data as well as to develop skills to interact with patients and colleagues. Medical schools have welcomed the guidance and introduced new, ground breaking curricula.
	It is the responsibility of the medical schools to ensure that specialist teaching meets the standards set out in Tomorrow's Doctors in order to retain GMC recognition of their course. This includes teaching in specific areas such as anatomy.

Mental Health

Tony Lloyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many beds for female medium security mental health patients are available, broken down by region; what the occupancy levels were in the last year for which figures are available; how many of these beds were not available in the first half of this year; and if she will make a statement.

Rosie Winterton: holding answer 20 October 2005
	Information is not available in the requested format. In 2004–05, the average daily number of available beds for adults, excluding the elderly, in secure mental illness wards was 2,696.
	The average occupancy rate for this period was 91.9 per cent. Information on the average daily number of available beds in secure mental illness wards, broken down by National Health Service organisations, has been placed in the Library.

Mental Health

David Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when she expects the Mental Health Bill to be introduced.

Rosie Winterton: The Mental Health Bill will be introduced when the legislative timetable permits.

Mental Health

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many prescriptions for anti-depressants were given by general practitioners in (a) 1994 and (b) 2004.

Jane Kennedy: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to the Member for Lewes (Norman Baker) on 27 June 2005, Official Report, column 1338W.

NHS Beds

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the total number of beds has been in the NHS in each year since 1997–98, (a) in total and (b) broken down by (i) strategic health authority and (ii) NHS trust.

Liam Byrne: The data are available on the Department's website at: www.performance.doh.gov.uk/hospitalactivity/.
	Strategic health authorities (SHAs) were established in 2002 and data on beds by SHA were published from 2002–03.

NHS Finance

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will provide details of the incentive scheme run by the NHS Bank to encourage NHS organisations to generate surpluses in the current financial year.

Liam Byrne: An incentive scheme has been introduced for 2005–06, with the aim of encouraging good financial management. Strategic health authorities (SHAs) that generate a surplus will be rewarded by receiving an uplift to their carry forward, which will be available for spending in the next financial year. The scheme was agreed in consultation with the 28 SHAs, and the NHS Bank has been asked to manage the scheme. Arrangements with national health service trusts or primary care trusts are for individual SHAs to manage. Any SHA taking advantage of the incentive scheme will need to demonstrate satisfactory delivery of key performance targets.

Ophthalmic Operations

Frank Dobson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) cataract operations and (b) other ophthalmic operations were carried out in NHS hospitals and clinics during the last year for which figures are available.

Rosie Winterton: holding answer 17 October 2005
	The number of finished consultant episodes (FCEs) that took place in national health service hospitals in England in 2003–04 is shown in the table.
	
		
			 Operations FCEs 2003–04 (Thousand) 
		
		
			 Cataract operations 301,664 
			 Other ophthalmic operations 175,918 
		
	
	Notes:
	A finished consultant episode is defined as a period of admitted patient care under one consultant within one health care provider. The figures do not represent the number of patients, as a person may have more than one episode of care within the year.

Overseas Visitors (Charges)

Nicholas Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people have (a) been refused treatment because of residential status and (b) declined treatment because they were told that there would be a charge under these regulations since the change to the NHS (Charges to Overseas Visitors) Regulations were amended.

Jane Kennedy: holding answer 18 October 2005
	Successive Governments have not required the national health service to provide statistics on the number of overseas visitors seen or treated under the provisions of the NHS (Charges to Overseas Visitors) Regulations 1989, as amended, or on the numbers of people who have declined treatment after being informed of the charges. It is therefore not possible to provide the information requested.

Physiotherapists (Essex)

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many physiotherapists were employed by the NHS in Essex in 2004–05.

Rosie Winterton: Information as to the number of physiotherapists employed in the national health service is not available in the format requested. However, the following table shows the number of physiotherapy staff and the number of qualified physiotherapists in the Essex strategic health authority (SHA) area as at 30 September2004 (the latest data available) by primary care trust (PCT).
	
		NHS hospital and community health services: physiotherapy staff in the Essex SHA area by organisation as at 30 September 2004 -- Headcount
		
			  Total physiotherapy staff Qualified physiotherapy staff 
		
		
			 Essex SHA 584 405 
			 Billericay, Brentwood and Wickford PCT22 15 
			 Colchester PCT 19 11 
			 Epping Forest PCT 88 58 
			 Essex Rivers Healthcare NHS Trust 79 62 
			 Maldon and South Chelmsford PCT 30 23 
			 Mid Essex Hospital Services NHS Trust47 38 
			 North Essex Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust5 3 
			 South Essex Partnership NHS Trust 9 4 
			 Southend Hospital NHS Trust 145 88 
			 Tendring PCT 24 16 
			 Thurrock PCT 101 78 
			 Witham Braintree and Halstead Care Trust15 9 
		
	
	Source:
	Health and Social Care Information Centre non-medical workforce census 2004.

Primary Care Trusts

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what advice is issued by her Department on co-terminosity in drawing up boundaries for proposed primary care trusts.

Liam Byrne: The advice is set out in "Commissioning a Patient Led NHS", which was published on 28 July. A number of criteria were provided against which strategic health authorities will submit proposals for the future configuration of their primary care trusts (PCTs) and the wording of the criterion relating to co-terminosity is:
	"Improve coordination with social services through greater congruence of PCT and local government boundaries. As a general principle we will be looking to reconfigured PCTs to have a clear relationship with local authority social services boundaries. This does not need to mean a rigid 1:1 co-terminosity—big local authorities might have more than one PCTs whereas a number of small unitary authorities might fit into one PCT."

Prisons (Contraception)

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make a statement on the provision of contraception in prisons.

Rosie Winterton: Contraceptives are not provided in prisons. Prison doctors were advised in 1995 that they should make condoms available to individual prisoners, on application, if in their clinical judgement there is a risk of transmission of HIV infection during sexual activity. The Prison Service is planning to issue revised guidance and instructions, which aim to clarify the policy on condoms so that it can be applied more evenly across the prison estate.

Pulmonary Hypertension

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what steps have been taken to initiate a full-research study into (a) the incidence of pulmonary hypertension and (b) the incidence of pulmonary hypertension among different gender and age groups;
	(2)  how many pulmonary hypertension sufferers were admitted to hospital in England in each of the last five years for which figures are available;
	(3)  what the average life expectancy is from diagnosis in (a) England and (b) Wales for a pulmonary hypertension sufferer;
	(4)  how many pulmonary hypertension sufferers in England are receiving treatment which includes use of the drug Cialis.

Liam Byrne: We are not aware of any research studies, current or planned, into the incidence and distribution of pulmonary hypertension.
	Hospital episode statistics hospital admission data for primary pulmonary hypertension is shown in the table.
	
		
			  Finished consultant episodes 
		
		
			 2003–04 3,445 
			 2002–03 2,867 
			 2001–02 1,844 
			 2000–01 1,684 
			 1999–2000 1,648 
		
	
	The average life expectancy for pulmonary hypertension sufferers is not available.
	The drug Cialis is prescribed for conditions other than pulmonary hypertension. Therefore, it is not possible to provide figures for the number of pulmonary hypertension sufferers receiving this drug.

Salt Consumption

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much public funding has been committed to the salt consumption campaign launched by the Food Standards Agency on 10 October 2005.

Caroline Flint: The Food Standard Agency has committed £6.2 million to this second phase of its salt campaign.

Smoking

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate she has made of the number of non-smokers who died of lung cancer in each of the past 10 years.

Caroline Flint: The information requested is not collected centrally.
	The 2004 Health Development Agency publication, "The Smoking Epidemic in England" estimated there were around 27,400 lung cancer deaths each year, of which 23,700 deaths were attributable to smoking. The number of deaths from lung cancer not attributable to smoking is therefore around 3,700.
	A copy of "The Smoking Epidemic in England" is available in the Library.
	Source:
	The Smoking Epidemic in England, Health Development Agency, 2004
	Table five, Deaths attributable to smoking as percentage of all deaths from that disease: England 1998–2001.

Sorafenib

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans she has to introduce the drug Sorafenib to the UK market.

Jane Kennedy: Before introducing medicines to the United Kingdom, they must undergo a licensing procedure which involves scientific assessment of all the company's quality, safety and efficacy data. For Sorafenib, the data will be evaluated using a single European procedure than separate national procedures.
	Bayer Healthcare AG has announced that they have recently submitted the clinical trial results for Sorafenib to the European Medicines Agency in London. The process of evaluating all of the data for risks and benefits in patients with advanced kidney cancer can now begin. If successful, the European Agency's scientific committee for human medicinal products will reach a positive opinion enabling the Commission to authorise the marketing of this product throughout the whole European Community.

Specialist Nurses

Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what the overall target is for the employment of specialist epilepsy nurses by NHS trusts;
	(2)  if she will make a statement on the employment of specialist epilepsy nurses within the NHS.

Liam Byrne: Information is not collected centrally on the number of specialist epilepsy nurses employed in the national health service, and there are no targets for their employment.
	Nurse specialist roles have been developed to address the unmet care needs for people with a variety of neurological conditions, including epilepsy. Specialist epilepsy nurses provide an additional clinical resource and have spearheaded the development of nurse led and fast access clinics, monitoring treatment regimes and seizure control, support and information on aspects of medication and side effects and lifestyle precautions.
	Specialist epilepsy nurse posts were developed through the British Epilepsy Association, now Epilepsy Action, in association with the Wellcome Foundation. There are a number of funding mechanisms supporting their development including the voluntary sector, pharmaceutical industry and the NHS.

St. Albans and Harpenden PCT

Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment her Department has made of the recent organisational and managerial changes within the St. Albans and Harpenden Primary Care Trust; and if she will make a statement.

Rosie Winterton: The Department has made no assessment of any recent organisational changes within the St. Albans and Harpenden Primary Care Trust.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Feltham Young Offenders Institute

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many of the recommendations for change made in the Butt inquiry, into the death of Zahid Mubarek have been implemented at Feltham young offenders institute.

Fiona Mactaggart: Of the 26 recommendations resulting from the Butt inquiry into the death of Zahid Mubarek, 25 have been implemented. The one recommendation not implemented is number 17, which required all current action plans to be consolidated into one action plan. This was not taken forward as each action plan had a requirement to be reported separately and it was not practical to collate these as one document.
	Additionally in the last three years, HM Inspectorate of Prisons visited Feltham young offender institution in 2002 and 2005. It has recognised the progress that is continuing to be made at the establishment. Feltham also received a good standards audit report in 2004, a further indication that systems and procedures are operating effectively.

Immigrant Labour

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the change in the permanently available labour force as a result of immigration to the United Kingdom in each of the last 10 years.

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked for her to reply.
	Letter from Karen Dunnell to Mr. John Bercow, dated 21 October 2005
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question about the change in the permanently available labour force as a result of immigration in the UK in each of the last 10 years. (18736)
	Table 1 provides the available information on economic activity for foreign nationals and those who arrived in the UK within the last 12 months, for the three month period ending in May, for the years 1994—2005.
	Table 2 provides the available information on international migration, where the main reason for migration is work related, for the years 1994—2003.
	The estimates in tables 1 and 2 are based on sample surveys which are subject to sampling variability.
	
		Table 1: Economically active foreign nationals aged 16 and over resident in UK -- Thousand
		
			  Economically active(11) foreign nationals 
			 Three months ending May each year Total Entered UK in past year 
		
		
			 1994 1,017 52 
			 1995 1,006 74 
			 1996 998 76 
			 1997 1,053 79 
			 1998 1,147 94 
			 1999 1,112 100 
			 2000 1,213 124 
			 2001 1,282 113 
			 2002 1,375 148 
			 2003 1,449 161 
			 2004 1,581 150 
			 2005 1,668 187 
		
	
	(11) Economically active includes those who are either in employment or unemployed.
	Source:
	ONS—Labour Force Survey
	
		Table 2: Work related(12) migration to and from the UK -- Thousand
		
			  Immigrants Emigrants Balance 
		
		
			 1994 57.0 68.8 -11.8 
			 1995 56.9 83.2 -26.3 
			 1996 72.1 94.5 -22.4 
			 1997 62.8 88.4 -25.6 
			 1998 83.7 76.3 7.3 
			 1999 93.9 80.4 13.5 
			 2000 108.4 104.8 3.6 
			 2001 123.2 93.7 29.4 
			 2002 107.6 108.6 -1.0 
			 2003 114.4 91.2 23.2 
		
	
	(12) The "work related" reason for migration includes those with a definite job to go to, those on business and au pairs. Those looking for work and working holidaymakers are not included in this grouping. In addition, diplomats, military personnel, merchant seamen and flight crews are excluded from the international migration estimates.
	Source(13):
	ONS—International passenger Survey
	2 Data for 1994—2003 are based mainly on data from the International Passenger Survey. It is supplemented with data on flows between the UK and the Irish Republic. Other data sources allow for the estimation of adjustments to these two components. That is, an adjustment for asylum seekers and their dependants not identified by the IPS and an adjustment for those whose intended length of stay changes so that their migrant status changes.

Racist Assaults

Stephen Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the number of racist assaults which took place in (a) South Tyneside, (b) Northumbria and (c) England and Wales in each of the last 10 years.

Fiona Mactaggart: The available information relates to recorded offences of racially or religiously aggravated common assault and less serious wounding.
	In the recorded crime series it is not possible to separately identify those offences which are racially or religiously aggravated. This is because at the time of recording it may not be possible for the police to determine whether the offence has a racial or religious motivation.
	
		Table 1: Recorded offences of racially or religiously aggravated assault—1999–2000 to 2001–02 -- Number of offences
		
			 Offence Area 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 
		
		
			 Racially or religiously aggravated less serious wounding South Tyneside n/a 1 2 
			  Northumbria 24 30 50 
			  England and Wales 2,687 3,176 3,463 
			  
			 Racially or religiously aggravated common assault South Tyneside n/a 4 3 
			  Northumbria 20 40 72 
			  England and Wales 4,257 4,711 5,164 
		
	
	n/a = Not available.
	Note:
	The data in this table is prior to the introduction of the National Crime Recording Standard. These figures are not directly comparable with those for later years.
	
		Table 2: Recorded offences of racially or religiously aggravated assault—2002–03 to 2004–05 -- Number of offences
		
			 Offence Area 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 
		
		
			 Racially or religiously aggravated less serious wounding South Tyneside 4 7 8 
			  Northumbria 54 107 104 
			  England and Wales 4,352 4,840 5,312 
			  
			 Racially or religiously aggravated common assault South Tyneside 5 3 4 
			  Northumbria 125 71 56 
			  England and Wales 4,491 4,017 3,677 
		
	
	Note:
	The data in this table takes account of the introduction of the National Crime Recording Standard in April 2002. These figures are not directly comparable with those for earlier years.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

AIDS

Tony Lloyd: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will make a statement on the outcome of the Global Fund to Fight Aids Replenishment Conference in September.

Gareth Thomas: holding answer 17 October 2005
	The first replenishment of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria concluded with the UK-hosted Replenishment Conference on 5–6 September 2005. Donors pledged US$3.7 billion for 2006 and 2007. This represents more than half of the US$7.0 billion 1 that the Global Fund estimated it needed for these two years. The money pledged will enable all existing Global Fund grants to be renewed (estimated need $3.3 billion 1 ) and provide a modest launch pad (estimated $0.4 billion) for new programmes.
	The UK pledged £100 million to the fund for 2006 and £100 million for 2007 at the Replenishment Conference. This represents a doubling of our previous pledge for these two years. The £200 million amounted to 10 per cent. of the US$3.7 billion pledged at the Replenishment Conference. The EU (member states and the EC) is the largest contributor to the Global Fund and pledging more than US$2 billion for 2006 and 2007. The EU therefore continues to show very strong leadership in tackling AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. As President of the EU, the UK drafted an EU statement highlighting the need for the Global Fund to continue to improve its performance and to be well funded.
	The Replenishment Conference also focused on improving the Global Fund performance at global and country level. Progress on implementing the recommendations from the Global Task Team on Improving AIDS Co-ordination Among Multilateral Institutions and International Donors was discussed. To make the Global Fund's money work effectively the UK also pledged at the Replenishment Conference to double our contribution to the United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) from £8 million to £16 million for the financial year 2005–06.
	A mid-term review of the replenishment is planned for June 2006. This will be an opportunity for donors to review further the Global Fund's performance and get new and existing donors to put in more money. The UK will continue its efforts to encourage new and existing donors, including the private sector, to support the Global Fund.
	1 Source:
	GFATM: Chair's Report 16 September 2005.

Departmental Finance

Chris McCafferty: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what was his Department's expenditure on sexual reproductive health non-governmental organisations through the Civil Society Challenge Fund in 2004–05.

Gareth Thomas: In financial year 2004–05,we supported 21 sexual reproductive health projects with 14 different non-governmental organisations through our Civil Society Challenge Fund. The funding allocated to these projects for 2004–05 was £1.133 million.

Developing World

Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what studies he has commissioned on the impact of non-agricultural market access on the sustainability of forests in developing countries.

Gareth Thomas: DFID has not commissioned studies on the impact of non-agricultural market access on the sustainability of forests in developing countries. However, the European Commission has commissioned a report on the forest sector under its work programme on "The sustainability impact assessment of proposed WTO (World Trade Organisation) negotiations". The final report of the forest sector study, dated June 2004, is available on the website of the Institute for Development Policy and Management of the University of Manchester: http://www.sia-trade.org/wto/Phase3B/Reports/ForestFR19June05.pdf.
	The broad conclusions of this study are that:
	Tariffs on forest products are low (average trade-weighted tariffs are less than 5 per cent.).
	Further reductions will not affect consumption and production a great deal, certainly not as much as population and economic growth. Much trade is already governed by regional agreements where tariffs are close to zero.
	Overall, the environmental impacts of further tariff reductions are likely to be small. However, where governance is poor the social and environmental consequences of liberalisation could be significant.
	Further liberalisation of agricultural trade will have a bigger impact on forests than the liberalisation of the forest products trade. This is because of the scale of agricultural trade, the scope for significant tariff reductions and the effects of conversion of forest lands to agricultural use. The product groups that affect forests most significantly are: oil palm, soybean, beef, rubber, cocoa and coffee.

Developing World

Peter Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much money the Government have pledged in each of the last five years to improve pharmaceutical provision in the developing world.

Gareth Thomas: The UK Government are committed to significantly improving the access to medicines, both branded and generic in developing countries. We need to work with others to tackle the key factors affecting access if we are to make lasting improvements.
	The factors recognised by the World Health Organisation (WHO) that can improve poor peoples' access to medicines are: affordable pricing, sustainable financing, reliable health services and the rational selection and use of existing drugs. In general, these are what DFID spends money on, rather than pharmaceuticals specifically.
	The Department for International Development (DFID) does not specifically fund the pharmaceutical industry. However, since 2000, DFID has spent over £650 million on the health sector in Africa. This includes supporting an Access to Medicines Initiative (ATMI) in Ghana, support to the WHO for the appointment of National Professional Officers for Essential Medicines in 11 African countries, to provide technical assistance on supply, management and rational use of medicines. In addition, the UK Government have been a key donor to the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and malaria (GFATM) and has committed £359 million through to 2008. This will help pay for increased coverage of proven interventions for these three diseases and some associated health services support.
	In September this year, the UK launched, with other donors, the International Financing Facility for Immunisation (IFFIm). This will provide $4 billion for the work of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI) over a 10-year period. GAVI supports the purchase of vaccines by developing countries and the strengthening of immunisation systems. IFFIm funding will save the lives of 5 million children and prevent a further 5 million deaths of immunised children in adulthood.
	At the G8 summit in Gleneagles this year, G8 leaders made a commitment to increase aid by $50 billion per annum by 2010 and to relieve developing country debt. Such an increase in long-term predictable funding includes resources for stronger health services, improving medicines and better health.

Private Members' Bills

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development on what occasions since 1997 Ministers from his Department have (a) authorised parliamentary counsel to assist in preparing amendments to private Members' Bills on behalf of other private Members and (b) authorise officials to instruct parliamentary counsel to prepare amendments which were subsequently passed to private Members.

Gareth Thomas: DFID has no record of any such occasions.

Rebranding

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much has been spent on rebranding in (a) his Department and (b) related agencies in each of the last five years.

Gareth Thomas: DFID has not incurred any expenditure on rebranding within the Department during the last 5 years.
	Capital for Development (CDC), a public limited company wholly owned by DFID, has been rebranded in the last five years. However, information on this spending could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Community Restorative Justice

Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much was spent on community restorative justice programmes in Northern Ireland in each of the last four years.

David Hanson: Community restorative justice programmes are operated on a voluntary basis and may receive funding from independent sources outside of Government; the Northern Ireland Office has not funded any community restorative justice programmes.

Community Restorative Justice

Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the Department planned expenditure is on community restorative justice programmes in the next financial year.

David Hanson: The Northern Ireland Office has no planned expenditure on community restorative justice programmes in the next financial year.

Community Restorative Justice

Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list each community restorative justice project funded by his Department.

David Hanson: The Northern Ireland Office has funded no community restorative justice projects.

Community Restorative Justice

Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many community restorative justice programmes are located in (a) Unionist areas and (b) Nationalist areas.

David Hanson: Community based restorative justice projects, founded on a voluntary or charitable basis, operate in both Unionist and Nationalist communities. The Northern Ireland Office has been discussing the development of operational guidelines with Northern Ireland Alternatives, who co-ordinate projects in Unionist areas and Community Restorative Justice (Ireland) who co-ordinate projects in Nationalist areas. Details on the exact number of projects for which they are responsible, and which are fully operational at this time, are not available.

Community Restorative Justice

Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will publish the protocols for community restorative justice schemes.

David Hanson: Draft guidelines for the operation of community restorative justice schemes are currently under consideration. These will be published shortly.

Community Restorative Justice

Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether the protocols governing community restorative justice schemes will include a requirement for those who run schemes to co-operate with the Police Service of Northern Ireland.

David Hanson: The guidelines will require all community restorative justice schemes to work with criminal justice agencies, including the police, as recommended by the Review of the Criminal Justice System in Northern Ireland.

Community Restorative Justice

Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people have completed community restorative justice programmes in each of the last four years.

David Hanson: Community restorative justice schemes are voluntary bodies that are not funded by Government, and consequently no official information on their volume of business is unavailable.

Community Support Officers

Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what plans he has to bring forward legislation to permit the recruitment of community support officers in Northern Ireland.

Shaun Woodward: The decision on whether to introduce police community support officers (PCSOs) to Northern Ireland rests with the Policing Board and the police service. Currently the Board and the police are considering the potential role of PCSOs. They have yet to come to a decision on the way forward. Consequently there are currently no plans to bring forward legislation to permit the recruitment of PCSOs.

Local Government Finance

Peter Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much has been collected by each of the 26 Northern Ireland local government councils through health and safety fines in each of the last five years.

Angela Smith: Local Government Councils in Northern Ireland do not collect health and safety fines. In common with the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland, Local Government Councils bring prosecutions for breaches of legislation to the Courts and if a prosecution is successful the Courts will decide on the level of fine, if a fine is imposed. The level of fines associated with successful prosecutions taken by each of the 26 Local Government Councils in each of the last four years is set out in the following table. Only Councils that took prosecutions are listed.
	
		£
		
			  2000–01(14) 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 
		
		
			 Ards — — — — 1,000 
			 Ballymena — — 250 500 — 
			 Banbridge — — — 200 — 
			 Belfast 21,000 600 7,500 2,500 — 
			 Coleraine — — — 300 — 
			 Fermanagh — — 400 — — 
			 Limavady — — 1,000 4,000 — 
			 Lisburn — 1,200 — — 250 
			 Newry and Mourne—  800 1,000 — 
			 Total 21,000 1,800 9,950 8,500 1,250 
		
	
	(14) No complete record of fines available for 2000–01.

PRIME MINISTER

Budgets

Philip Hollobone: To ask the Prime Minister from what budget the cost of his helicopter journey to Kettering general hospital in February was met.

Tony Blair: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Tatton (Mr. George Osborne) on 23 February 2005, Official Report, column 621W.

Lord Birt

Norman Baker: To ask the Prime Minister, pursuant to the answer of 12 October 2005, Official Report, columns 662–63W, on Lord Birt, what measures were in place at the time of Lord Birt's employment with McKinsey.

Tony Blair: I refer the hon. Member to Lord Birt's letter of appointment. Copies are available in the Libraries of the House.

Ministerial Overseas Visits

Norman Baker: To ask the Prime Minister what factors he took into account in deciding whether the (a) Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and (b) Trade and Industry Secretaries of State should accompany him on his recent visit to (i) China and (ii) India.

Tony Blair: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (Alan Johnson) accompanied me in support of the delegation of senior European business people who attended the business conferences held alongside the EU/China and EU/India summits. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs fully contributed towards the climate change aspects of the EU/India Joint Action Plan and the EU/China Partnership on Climate Change agreed at the summits.

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Correspondence

Nick Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when he expects to reply to the letter of 6 June from the hon. Member for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton regarding correspondence from Eurotek Office Furniture Ltd.

Alan Johnson: I apologies for the delay in replying to the hon. Member. A reply was sent on Friday 14 October.

Departmental Vehicles

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many vehicles for which the Department is responsible are fitted with retreaded tyres.

Alan Johnson: The Department does not own any vehicles. It does lease five vehicles for essential business travel through a lease car company. None of these cars are fitted with retreaded tyres.

Export Credits Guarantee Department

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry 
	(1)  when he expects the report following the anti-bribery and corruption consultation by the Export Credits Guarantee Department to be published; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  when representations received during the consultation on the Export Credits Guarantee Department's anti-bribery and corruption procedures will be available on the Department's website.

Ian Pearson: ECGD has today published an Interim Response to the public consultation on its anti-bribery and corruption procedures. This Interim Response, together with supporting documentation, including all the representations which were made to the consultation, can be found on ECGD's website at http://www.ecgd.gov.uk/index/pi_home/pi_pc/abc_int_resp.htm
	ECGD is now inviting further representations on this Interim Response from those who responded to the initial consultation. It is intended that a final Government Response should be published by the end of this year.

Spam E-mails

David Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what measures the Government have introduced since 1997 to combat spam e-mails; and if he will make a statement.

Alun Michael: The Government introduced statutory controls in the UK on unsolicited e-mails through the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003, which came into force on 11 December 2003. These regulations require that unsolicited e-mails must not be sent to an individual subscriber unless prior permission has been obtained or unless there is a previous relationship between the parties. The regulations can be enforced against an offending company or individual anywhere in the European Union.
	In the UK, the Information Commissioner's Office has responsibility for the enforcement of the regulations and considers complaints about breaches. Regulating unsolicited spam e-mails is a global challenge. The UK is therefore active in international discussions and on 2 July 2004 a Memorandum of Understanding was agreed between the United Kingdom, United States and Australia. This means that for the first time enforcement authorities in these countries, the Information Commissioner's Office and the Office of Fair Trading for the UK are working together to investigate spammers.
	The Government have also worked to develop initiatives with international standards bodies and organisations such as the OECD that can foster a global framework. This has involved active discussion with those providing software service future solutions.

TRANSPORT

A19

John Cummings: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what average daily number of traffic movements there have been between Teesside and Tyneside on the A19 in the last three years.

Stephen Ladyman: The average daily traffic flow between Teesside and Tyneside on the A19 for the last three calendar years is:
	
		
			  Average daily traffic flow 
		
		
			 2004 46,300 vehicles per day with a 14 per cent. HGV content(15). 
			 2003 45,800 vehicles per day with a 14 per cent. HGV content(16). 
			 2002 44,600 vehicles per day with a 14 per cent. HGV content(17). 
		
	
	(15) The traffic flow varies along the route from 29,200 to 70,400.
	(16) The traffic flow varies along the route from 29,000 to 70,500.
	(17) The traffic flow varies along the route from 28,300 to 69,600.
	The average traffic flow figures for 2005 are unavailable.

A21 Upgrade

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he plans to issue draft orders for the proposed A21 upgrade between Hurst Green and Flimwell.

Stephen Ladyman: Once advice has been received on priorities from the Regional Transport Board, a decision will be made on the way forward, which will determine the programme and in turn the date for issuing draft orders.

A21 Upgrade

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many people have applied for statutory blight compensation in relation to the proposed A21 upgrade between Hurst Green and Flimwell.

Stephen Ladyman: 12 applications have been received for the acquisition of properties under the statutory blight provisions.

A21 Upgrade

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what representations he has received on (a) noise pollution, (b) speed restrictions and (c) road dualing in relation to the proposed A21 upgrade between Hurst Green and Flimwell.

Stephen Ladyman: No specific representation has been received regarding noise pollution or speed restrictions in relation to the A21 upgrade between Hurst Green and Flimwell. The results of the Public Consultation indicated 14 respondents preferred a dual carriageway option to a three-lane road.

A21 Upgrade

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on the financing of road improvements and proposed upgrades along the A21 in East Sussex.

Stephen Ladyman: There has been no change in current financing plans for A21 improvements schemes in East Sussex. However, as the A21 is a trunk road of regional importance, planned expenditure on major improvements falls within the scope of the regional advice that the Government have asked for on spending priorities for housing, transport and economic development.
	The joint Treasury/DTI/DfT/ODPM document, "Regional Funding Allocations—Guidance on Preparing Advice", published in July 2005, included indicative annual spending guidelines for each of the three spending areas. We look forward to receiving regional advice by the end of January 2006.

A21 Upgrade

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what representations he has received opposing the proposed A21 upgrade between Flimwell and Hurst Green.

Stephen Ladyman: A joint public consultation exercise was held for the A21 Flimwell and Hurst Green and A21 Kippings Cross to Lamberhurst upgrades. Of the 1,246 responses received to the combined consultation, 175 respondents opposed the upgrades. Since announcing the Preferred Route for the A21 Flimwell to Hurst Green improvement in February this year, we have received further representations from property owners expressing concern about the possible affects of the scheme on their properties.

M25

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of the cost of widening the M25 between junctions 23 and 31; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen Ladyman: The cost of widening the M25 between junctions 23 and 30 is currently estimated at £908 million. At present there are no proposals to widen to Junction 31.

Search and Rescue

Roger Gale: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will discuss with the Chancellor of the Exchequer implementation of the eleventh recommendation of the Eighth Report from the Transport Services Committee of Session 2004–05 on Search and Rescue (HC 322–1); and if he will make a statement.

Stephen Ladyman: In the Government Response to the Transport Select Committee (memorandum issued on 10 October 2005) we have made clear that we will work with charities to improve the VAT system where possible but we do not agree that a funding scheme for charities based on irrecoverable VAT is a practical or affordable way of targeting the Government support available for charities.
	I understand that my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer has conducted two major reviews to see if an efficient, affordable and principled solution could be found. These reviews came to two conclusions: first, that it would not be an affordable or efficient use of public resources to reimburse all 250,000 charitable bodies in the UK for the VAT they incur, regardless of the activities they are involved in or their financial health; and second, that there was no fair and principled basis to be used to decide which charities would be reimbursed their VAT and which would not.

Speed Restrictions

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list the local authorities which (a) have and (b) have not introduced a 30 miles per hour speed restriction in villages.

Stephen Ladyman: This information is not held centrally. Local highway authorities are tasked with setting local speed limits on all roads which fall within their area of responsibility. There is no requirement for them to notify the Department when a speed limit is changed.

Speed Restrictions

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list the local authorities in England which (a) have and (b) have not implemented a 20 miles per hour speed restriction outside schools.

Stephen Ladyman: This information is not held centrally. Local highway authorities are tasked with setting local speed limits on all roads which fall within their area of responsibility. There is no requirement for them to notify the Department when a speed limit is changed.

Transport Act

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  if he will make a statement on the operation of section 70 of the Transport Act 1982;
	(2)  how many payments were made in each category of section 70 of the Transport Act 1982 in (a) Essex and (b) England and Wales in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

Stephen Ladyman: The seat belt wearing regulations provide for exemptions on medical grounds. To be exempt, a person must hold a valid certificate issued by a doctor. Doctors judge each case on its merits and grant a certificate of exemption as appropriate, making an examination where needed.
	Section 70 of the Transport Act 1982, as amended, provides for financial assistance for certain classes of people in respect of an examination for the purpose of determining whether a certificate should be issued. On valid application, the Department can provide a maximum of £55.50 towards the cost of each examination. Those entitled to apply are those receiving benefits—the list in section 70 has been updated so that it now includes income support, pension credit (guarantee credit element), tax credit, disability working allowance, attendance allowance, Constant attendance allowance with war pension, constant attendance allowance with industrial injuries disablement pension, war pensioners mobility supplement, disability living allowance. For recipients of income support, pension credit (guarantee credit element), tax credit or a disability working allowance, a member of their household (for example wife, husband, son, daughter, etc.) is entitled to a free examination provided that they live at the same address and do not have their own source of income.
	Statistics are not maintained on the type, or types of benefit that patients receive—and therefore figures cannot be allocated against benefit types. Since April 2000, the Department has paid 17 claims amounting to £971.50 as follows.
	
		
			  Number of claims 
			 Financial year Essex England and Wales Total paid (£) 
		
		
			 2000–01 0 3 166.50 
			 2001–02 1 3 146 
			 2002–03 1 3 221.50 
			 2003–04 1 4 216 
			 2004–05 0 4 221.50

Travel Concessions (East Sussex)

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on bus travel concessions in the East Sussex rural area.

Karen Buck: From April 2006, people aged 60 and over and disabled people will be guaranteed free off-peak bus travel within their local authority boundary. Local authorities will retain their discretion to work together to provide a county-wide concessionary travel scheme as currently exists in East Sussex.

TREASURY

Alcohol/Tobacco Deaths

Mike Wood: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer in how many deaths in (a) England, (b) West Yorkshire and (c) Batley and Spen (i) consumption of alcohol and (ii) smoking was the main cause in the last year for which figures are available.

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the national statistician, who has been asked to reply.
	Letter from Karen Dunnell to Mr. Mike Wood, dated 21 October 2005
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking in how many deaths in (a) England, (b) West Yorkshire and (c) Batley and Spen (i) consumption of alcohol and (ii) smoking was the main cause in the last year for which figures are available. (19659)
	The most recently available information for mortality is deaths registered in 2004. Table 1 below shows numbers of deaths among residents of England, West Yorkshire, and Batley and Spen Parliamentary Constituency, where the underlying cause of death indicated a condition directly related to alcohol use in 2004.
	Smoking history is rarely recorded on death certificates. Estimates can however be made of the number of deaths attributable to smoking, by using information on the contribution that smoking makes to specific conditions recorded at death. The most recent estimates for England were published by the Health Development Agency in 2004. 1 This report estimated that over the period 1998–2002 an average of 86,500 deaths were caused by smoking each year in England. The equivalent figure for West Yorkshire was 3,900 deaths. Estimates were not published at parliamentary constituency level. However the percentage of all deaths from causes attributable to smoking, at ages 35 and over, were published for Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) and Strategic Health Authorities (SHAs). These figures for West Yorkshire and its constituent PCTs are provided in Table 2 below. Batley and Spen Parliamentary Constituency is part of North Kirklees PCT.
	Reference:
	1 Twigg L, Moon G and Walker S. The smoking epidemic in England. Health Development Agency, 2004.
	
		Table 1: Alcohol-related deaths(18) to usual residents of England, West Yorkshire, and Batley and Spen parliamentary constituency, registered 2004
		
			 Area of residence Number of deaths 
		
		
			 England 6,125 
			 West Yorkshire 303 
			 Batley and Spen 13 
		
	
	(18) The cause of death was defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10).
	The codes used by ONS to define alcohol-related deaths are listed as follows:
	F10—Mental and behavioural disorders due to use of alcohol
	I42.6—Alcoholic cardiomyopathy
	K70—Alcoholic liver disease
	K73—Chronic hepatitis, not elsewhere classified
	K74—Fibrosis and cirrhosis of liver
	X45—Accidental poisoning by and exposure to alcohol
	Notes:
	1. Deaths were selected using the original underlying cause.
	2. The selection of codes to define alcohol-related deaths is described in:
	Baker A and Rooney C (2003). Recent trends in alcohol-related mortality, and the impact of ICD-10 on the monitoring of these deaths in England and Wales. "Health Statistics Quarterly" 17, pp 5–14.
	
		Table 2: Estimated percentages of all deaths associated with smoking for ages 35 and over, by primary care trusts in West Yorkshire, 1998–2002 -- Percentage
		
			 Primary Care Trust  
		
		
			 Airedale 30 
			 Bradford City 34 
			 Bradford South and West 36 
			 North Bradford 33 
			 Eastern Wakefield 37 
			 Wakefield West 33 
			 Leeds West 36 
			 Leeds North East 26 
			 East Leeds 38 
			 South Leeds 37 
			 Leeds North West 32 
			 Calderdale 31 
			 North Kirklees 32 
			 Huddersfield Central 31 
			 South Huddersfield 28 
			   
			 Strategic Health Authority  
			 West Yorkshire 33

Alcohol/Tobacco Deaths

Ben Wallace: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer in how many deaths alcohol was the primary cause in the last five years in Lancaster and Wyre constituency.

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
	Letter from Karen Dunnell to Mr. Ben Wallace, dated 21 October 2005
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking how many deaths where alcohol was the primary cause there were in the last five years in Lancaster and Wyre constituency. (20480)
	The latest year for which figures are available is 2004. The attached table shows the numbers of deaths among residents of Lancaster and Wyre Parliamentary Constituency where the underlying cause of death indicated a condition directly related to alcohol use in the years 2000 to 2004.
	
		Alcohol-related deaths(19) to usual residents of Lancaster and Wyre parliamentary constituency, registered 2000–04
		
			  Number 
		
		
			 2000 15 
			 2001 2 
			 2002 9 
			 2003 8 
			 2004 13 
		
	
	(19) For the year 2000 the cause of death was defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9). The codes used by ONS to define alcohol-related deaths are as listed:
	291—Alcoholic psychoses
	303—Alcohol dependence syndrome
	305.0—Non-dependent abuse of alcohol
	425.5—Alcoholic cardiomyopathy
	571—Chronic liver disease and cirrhosis
	E860—Accidental poisoning by alcohol.
	For the years 2001–04 the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) was used. To maintain comparability with earlier years the following codes were used:
	F10—Mental and behavioural disorders due to use of alcohol
	142.6—Alcoholic cardiomyopathy
	K70—Alcoholic liver disease
	K73—Chronic hepatitis, not elsewhere classified
	K74—Fibrosis and cirrhosis of liver
	X45—Accidental poisoning by and exposure to alcohol
	Notes:
	1. Deaths were selected using the original underlying cause.
	2. The selection of codes to define alcohol-related deaths is described in "Baker A and Rooney C" (2003). Recent trends in alcohol-related mortality, and the impact of ICD-10 on the monitoring of these deaths in England and Wales. Health Statistics Quarterly 17, pp 5–14.

Cancer Survival Rates

Owen Paterson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the survival rates of cancer patients one year after diagnosis were in England in each of the last five years.

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
	Letter from Karen Dunnell to Mr. Owen Paterson, dated 21 October 2005
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question concerning what were the survival rates of cancer patients one year after diagnosis in England in each of the last five years. (19908)
	Cancer survival rates are only produced for specific cancers and are calculated by combining several years of diagnosis.
	The latest available one-year and five-year survival rates for 21 common cancers (about 90 per cent. of all cancer cases) in England are for adult patients (aged 15–99 years) diagnosed during 1998–2001 and followed up to the end of 2003. These figures were published on the National Statistics website on 9 May 2005, and are available at: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/Product.asp?vlnk=14007
	The latest available one-year and five-year survival rates for 23 less common cancers in England and Wales are for adult patients diagnosed during 1996–99 and followed up to the end of 2001. These figures were published on the National Statistics website on 2 March 2005, and are available at: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/Product.asp?vlnk=136134&More=n
	In addition, one-year and five-year survival rates by government office region and strategic health authority, for eight common cancers, for adult patients diagnosed during 1995–97 and followed up to the end of 2002, were published on the National Statistics website on 21 April 2005, and are available at: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/ssdatasetasp?vlnk=8974

Climate Change Levy

Michael Penning: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the impact of the Climate Change Levy; and if he will make a statement.

John Healey: The Government published an independent evaluation of the Climate Change levy (CCL), "Modelling the Initial Effects of the Climate Change Levy", by Cambridge Econometrics at Budget 2005, which is available at:
	www.hmrc.gov.uk
	The evaluation concluded that CCL is expected to deliver carbon dioxide savings of over 3.5 million tonnes of carbon by 2010, well above the estimates made at the time of the levy's introduction.

Departmental NDPBs

David Amess: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  if he will list those of his Department's advisory non-departmental public bodies which the Government are required (a) to consult prior to legislative proposals and (b) to publish advice from;
	(2)  which of the advisory non-departmental public bodies sponsored by his Department have a statutory base; which (a) publish their advice to Government, (b) publish an annual report and (c) lay an annual report before Parliament; and whether it is under a statutory requirement in each case;
	(3)  which of the advisory non-departmental public bodies sponsored by his Department (a) hold public meetings, (b) conduct public consultation exercises, (c) conduct consultation exercises with outside commercial interests, (d) publish a register of members' interests, (e) publish agendas for meetings and (f) publish the minutes of meetings; and whether it is under a statutory requirement in each case.

John Healey: The Treasury consults a wide range of interest bodies, as appropriate, in the process of preparing its legislative proposals. Depending on the nature of the consultation, responses are normally made public, subject to any confidentiality considerations and the wishes of respondents.
	Details relating to the Treasury's two advisory non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs)—the Statistics Commission and the Public Services Productivity Panel—are set out in the annual Cabinet Office publication "Public Bodies", which can be accessed via: http://www.knowledgenetwork.gov.uk/ndpb/ndpb.nsf/0/04801FA2F8BF454480256E540049FF84?OpenDocument
	The Statistics Commission:
	The Statistics Commission was set up under the Framework for National Statistics in June 2000. It is a non-statutory body. It is independent of Ministers and the producers of National Statistics. Commissioners are appointed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in accordance with the Code of Practice published by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. The Commission is chaired by Professor David Rhind.
	Under the Commission's Financial Memorandum it is required to lay an annual report and audited accounts as a single document before Parliament.
	Under the Framework the Commission has a duty to be open and transparent about everything it does. Minutes and agendas of its meetings, correspondence and evidence it receives and advice it gives are all published on the Commission's website at www.statscom.orq.uk. The commission also holds an open meeting once a year which is open to the public. A register of interests for commissioners is maintained on the commission's website. The commission consults widely in conducting its research.
	Public Services Productivity Panel:
	The Public Services Productivity Panel (PSPP) was established as part of the November 1998 pre-Budget report. The panel does not produce an annual report, but it has published a number of reports around themes of public services productivity, which are accessible via the Treasury's website: http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/documents/public_spending_and_services/public_ services_productivity_panel/pss_psp_bckgrd.cfm
	The PSPP does not hold public meetings, and meeting agendas and minutes are not published. It consults as appropriate in the course of carrying out its work.
	Upon appointment, all PSPP members are expected to declare any personal or business interest which may, or may be perceived (by a reasonable member of the public) to influence their judgment. A register of such interests is kept up to date by the secretary to the panel and can be accessed via: http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/Documents/Public_Spending_and_ Services/Public_Services_productivity_Panel/pss_psp_ register.cfm

Departmental Spending

Norman Baker: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what percentage of Government expenditure has been allocated to each Government department, in each year from 1997; and what the outturn percentage of total spending for each Department was in each year.

Ivan Lewis: Details of Government expenditure are published annually in the Public Expenditure Statistical Analysis. This publication, which is available in the Library of the House, includes a breakdown by Department of both planned and outturn expenditure.

Employment Levels

Vincent Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the (a) public and (b) private sector employment levels were on 1 January of each year since 2000; and what estimate he has made of private sector employment generated directly by work for the public sector in each year.

John Healey: Data on public and private employment levels since 2000 can be found in Table 5 of the National Statistics quarterly publication, "Public Sector Employment First Release", published on the ONS website.
	There are no reliable estimates of private sector employment generated by public sector because surveys of departments ask for information on employment levels but not on employment by private sector firms under their remits. Similarly, data on public and private sector employment published by the Labour Force Survey ask respondents to classify themselves as working in the public sector or private sector but does not ask whether they are working for private firms in the public sector.

Endowment Mis-selling

Adam Holloway: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when (a) he and (b) his officials last met the Financial Services Authority to discuss compensation for those who were mis-sold endowment policies.

Ivan Lewis: The Treasury has regular discussions with the FSA covering a range of matters.

Endowment Mis-selling

Adam Holloway: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the advice the Financial Services Authority offers those wanting to pursue a claim for the mis-selling of endowment mortgages.

Ivan Lewis: The Financial Services Authority (FSA) factsheet "Endowment mortgage complaints" has been produced and distributed since October 2000 and has been regularly updated. The FSA also produces a more detailed guide to making a complaint, which includes an example of how to write a complaint letter. Consumer awareness campaigns have backed this up.
	Millions of the FSA's mortgage endowment fact sheets have been distributed by firms or requested by consumers. And the consumer communications campaign has resulted in high levels of awareness as evidenced in the FSA's 2002 Consumer Research (Paper 16) where 99 per cent. of consumers recalled receiving re-projection letters, enclosing FSA fact sheets.
	FSA's latest research results (published in July 2005) indicate that 48 per cent. of households facing a shortfall have restructured their mortgage, savings or endowment. And around 21 per cent. of those facing a shortfall have complained or taken advice. FSA records show that at the end of 2004 around £1.1 billion had been paid in redress.

Endowment Mis-selling

Adam Holloway: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the way compensation for the mis-selling of endowment mortgages is calculated.

Ivan Lewis: The FSA has consulted on the Mortgage Endowment Complaints Guidance set out in its Rulebook. This was issued in 2001. The FSA wrote to firms in 2002 and December 2004 to remind firms of their requirement to deal with mortgage endowment complaints fairly and consistently. The FSA has also produced a factsheet on compensation for consumers, which we understand firms are starting to send out with their final response letters.

Family Statistics

David Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proportion of children lived in (a) single parent families and (b) two parent families where the parents were married, in each year since 1976; and if he will make a statement.

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
	Letter from Karen Dunnell to Mr. David Laws, dated 21 October 2005
	As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your question on the proportion of dependent children living in (a) lone parent families and (b) married couple families since 1976. (20020)
	Estimates of the percentage of dependent children living in Britain by different family types of the years available are shown in the attached table.
	
		Proportion of dependent children(20) by family type, United Kingdom -- Percentage
		
			  Married couple family Cohabiting couple family Lone parent family 
		
		
			 1977(21) 90 10 
			 1986 85 2 13 
			 1992 79 5 16 
			 1993 78 6 16 
			 1994 76 6 18 
			 1995 75 7 19 
			 1996 72 7 21 
			 1997 72 8 21 
			 1998 70 8 22 
			 1999 69 9 22 
			 2000 69 9 22 
			 2001 68 10 22 
			 2002 67 10 23 
			 2003 66 10 23 
			 2004 66 11 23 
			 2005 65 11 24 
		
	
	(20) Dependent children are those aged under 16 or aged 16 to 18 who are never-married and in full-time education.
	(21) Split of married and cohabiting couples not available. Figures for 1976 are not available.
	Note:
	percentages may not add to 100 due to rounding
	Sources:
	Pre 1992 General Household Survey (Great Britain), 1992–2005 Labour Force Survey (United Kingdom)

Fires

Paul Burstow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many fatalities were attributed to fires in each year since 1997.

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
	Letter from Karen Dunnell to Mr. Paul Burstow, dated 21 October 2005
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question concerning how many fatalities were attributed to fires for each year since 1997. (20664)
	The most recently available information is for deaths in 2003. Figures for deaths due to exposure to smoke, fire or flames are shown in the table below for each year from 1997 to 2003.
	
		Number of deaths due to exposure to smoke, fire or flames(22) persons, England and Wales, 1997 to 2003(23)
		
			  Number of deaths 
		
		
			 1997 539 
			 1998 470 
			 1999 421 
			 2000 453 
			 2001 442 
			 2002 432 
			 2003 449 
		
	
	(22) Cause of death was defined using the codes below from the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9)for the years 1997 and 2000, and Tenth Revision (ICD-10)from 2001 onwards. ICD-9—E890-E899, E958.1, E968.0, E988.1 ICD-10-XOO-X09, X76, X97, Y26. Includes deaths given a verdict of accident, assault, suicide or undetermined intent.
	(23) Figures are for deaths occurring in each calendar year.

Futurebuilders

Tim Loughton: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  how much has been paid out through Futurebuilders to date;
	(2)  which organisations have received funding from Futurebuilders;
	(3)  what proportion of Futurebuilders funding to date has been allocated to hospices.

Paul Goggins: I have been asked to reply.
	The total sum disbursed to date is £4.25million. The following list details the organisations who have had Futurebuilders investments agreed. To date no hospices have received funding from Futurebuilders.
	List of organisations that have successfully secured Futurebuilders investments: as of October 2005
	Full investments
	African Refugee Community Health and Research Organisation (ARCHRO)
	Bangladeshi Parents and Carers Association
	Brain and Spinal Injury Charity (BASIC)
	Bickersplatts Children's Centre
	Birmingham Institute for the Deaf
	Bridge Project, The
	Broadreach House
	Camden Society, The
	Catz Club
	Community Action Project
	Cottingley Cornerstone Centre
	Croxteth Community Trust
	Derwent Stepping Stones
	East Midlands Community Dental Association
	Education Business Connections Ltd.
	Equinox
	Get Well UK
	Leeds Community Mediation Service
	Liverpool Crossroads Caring for Carers
	North Liverpool Citizen's Advice Bureau
	PeaceMaker
	Pecan
	Queen Alexandra Cottage Homes
	Russian Orthodox Women's Drug Project
	Sheffield Rebuild
	Sound Base Studios Trust
	Thirsk Clock
	Wings South West
	The Who Cares? Trust
	Yemeni Economic and Training Centre (YETC)
	Development grants
	Albanian Youth Action
	All Saints Community Devl Association
	Ariel Trust
	Bangladeshi Youth and Cultural Shomiti
	Cambridge Independent Advice Centre
	Chiltern Centre for Disabled Children
	Chinese Healthy Living Centre
	Connect Community Transport
	East Berkshire Mind
	Enfield Asian Welfare Association
	Foundations UK
	Free at Last
	Harrogate District Community Transport
	Headway Dorset
	Kaleidoscope in Action
	Learning Disabilities Federation (North Tyneside)
	Love and Joy Ministry
	MED Theatre
	NOAH Enterprise
	Options for Life
	OTR—BANES
	OURS
	Pie Factory Music
	Preset Charitable Trust
	Rochdale Connections Trust
	Sector Services
	Sefton Carers Centre
	Sickle Cell Advice Bureau
	Stoke Community Culture Group
	Turkish Cypriot Women's Project
	Unite Ltd.
	Urban Voice (UK) Ltd.
	Woman's Trust

Gift Aid

David Drew: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  what the reasons are for the introduction of new arrangements for the operation of Gift Aid on admissions;
	(2)  if he will publish the research that provided the basis for the change in existing Gift Aid arrangements; and what abuses were exposed;
	(3)  what consultation his Department undertook with smaller charities before it entered into the changes proposed in detailed guidance for the new Gift Aid Rule, with specific reference to the impact on Friends organisations.

Ivan Lewis: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answers the former Economic Secretary (John Healey) gave to the hon. Member for Edinburgh, West (John Barrett) on 30 March 2004, Official Report, column 1352W, 23 April 2004, Official Report, column 686W, 8 June 2004, Official Report, column 371W, and 14 September 2004, Official Report, column 1507W.
	The Inland Revenue held three periods of consultation on the changes. As part of this consultation the Inland Revenue wrote to 84 charitable organisations, both large and small, and 34 other interested organisations, including representative bodies, who had expressed an interest. It also held a number of meetings around the country to discuss the changes face-to-face. These meetings covered all organisations across the charitable sector likely to be affected by the changes.
	The new rules come into effect on 6 April 2006 and detailed guidance has been drawn up in consultation with the sector and is available on the HM Revenue and Customs website at http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/charities/chapter3-insert.htm.
	HM Revenue and Customs is subject to a strict duty of confidentiality in relation to information it obtains in performance of its duties. This prevents the publication of abuses uncovered.

Grandparents

Nadine Dorries: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he is taking to help support grandparents who act as foster parents, guardians or holders of a residence order for their grandchildren; and if he will make a statement.

Ivan Lewis: Child tax credit and child benefit can both be paid to grandparents where they are responsible for their grandchildren.

Gun Smuggling

David Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he is taking to tackle the smuggling of guns and gun components.

Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Gentlemen to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Romford (Andrew Rosindell) on 4 July 2005, Official Report, column 87W.

Illegal Drug Deaths

Adam Holloway: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many deaths have been caused in Gravesham by illegal drugs since 1997.

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
	Letter from Karen Dunnell to Mr. Adam Holloway, dated 21 October 2005
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking how many deaths have been caused in Gravesham by illegal drugs since 1997. (20037)
	Relevant figures are only readily available for deaths where the underlying cause was related to drug poisoning. It is not possible to identify from death certificates which substance was the primary cause when more than one was involved.
	There were fewer than five deaths in Gravesham Local Authority involving drug misuse in all but one of the years 1997 to 2003. In order to maintain confidentiality of information supplied to the Office for National Statistics by coroners for statistical purposes only, precise numbers cannot be provided for individual years. These data have, therefore, been provided for rolling five-year periods.
	
		Deaths from drug-related poisoning(24) involving illegal substances,(25) in Gravesham,(26) deaths occurring 1997–2001,1998–2002, and 1999–2003.
		
			 Roiling five-year period Number of deaths 
		
		
			 1997–2001 12 
			 1998–2002 13 
			 1999–2003 12 
		
	
	(24) Cause of death was defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) codes 292, 304, 305.2–305.9, E850-E858, E950.0-E950.5, E962.0 and E980.0-E980.5 for 1997 to 2000, and the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) codes F11-F16, F18-F19, X40-X44, X60-X64, X85 and Y10- Y14from 2001 onwards.
	(25) Includes deaths where the underlying cause was mental and behavioural disorders due to psychoactive substance use and other drug-related poisoning deaths where a drug controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 was mentioned on the death record.
	(26) Usual residents of Gravesham Local Authority.

Local Authority Staff Numbers

David Mundell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people worked in (a) the public sector and (b) the private sector in each local authority area in each of the last six years, broken down by industry.

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked reply.
	Letter from Karen Dunnell to Mr. David Mundell, dated 21 October 2005
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about public and private sector employment. (19480)
	The Office for National Statistics publishes a quarterly public sector employment first release that contains UK data and includes an industry breakdown for the public sector. The most recent estimates for Q2 2005 were published on 30 September 2005.
	Estimates of the number of people working in the public and private sector at the local authority level are not available. However, on 28th October ONS will be publishing estimates of the proportion of employment in each region of the UK which is in the public sector.
	Figures for all in employment for each local authority are available from the Annual Population Survey (APS) and published on ONS' Nomis website at: www.nomisweb.co.uk

Management Consultancies

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer which five management consultancies received the highest value of contracts awarded by his Department in each of the last three years; and what the total value was of the contracts awarded to each.

John Healey: The information is available on the Treasury website at http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/about/information/foi_disclosures/foi_disclosures index. cfm.

Motor Fuel (Northern Ireland)

Peter Robinson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people have been (a) prosecuted and (b) fined in connection with an offence directly relating to the illegal use of petrol or diesel in a motor vehicle in Northern Ireland in each of the last five years.

John Healey: The number of convictions secured which are related to hydrocarbon oils fraud during the last four years are as set out in the following table:
	
		
			  Number of convictions 
		
		
			 2000–01 5 
			 2001–02 15 
			 2002–03 3 
			 2003–04 4 
		
	
	HMRC do not have figures for prosecutions resulting from all forms of revenue evasion in road fuels for years prior to 2000–01. Figures for 2004–2005 will be published in HMRC's Annual Report 2004–05.
	The number of Civil Penalties, which relate to vehicles seized in relation to illegal fuel use, for the last four years are set out in the following table:
	
		
			  Number of Civil Penalties relating to vehicles seized 
		
		
			 2000–01 243 
			 2001–02 714 
			 2002–03 1,102 
			 2003–04 901 
		
	
	HMRC do not have figures for Civil Penalties resulting from all forms of revenue evasion in road fuels for years prior to 2000–01.

Planning Gain Supplement

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he expects the Government's plan for a planning gain supplement to be revenue-neutral.

John Healey: As set out in the March 2005 Economic and Fiscal Strategy Report, the Government will respond to the recommendations in the Barker Review of Housing Supply later this year.

Search and Rescue

Roger Gale: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the eleventh recommendation of the Eighth Report of the Transport Select Committee of Session 2004–05 on Search and Rescue (HC 322–1); and if he will make a statement.

Ivan Lewis: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 19 October 2005, Official Report, column 1107W, to the hon. Member for Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale (David Mundell).

Skin Cancer

Si�n James: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many cases of skin cancer were diagnosed in England in the last three years for which figures are available.

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
	Letter from Karen Dunn to Ms Sian James, dated 21 October 2005
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question concerning how many cases of skin cancer were diagnosed in England in the last three years for which figures are available. (20811)
	The latest available figures for the incidence of melanoma skin cancer are for the year 2003. Numbers of cases by sex for the years 2001 to 2003 are given in the table below.
	
		Number of newly diagnosed cases of melanoma skin cancer(27) in England, by sex, 20012003
		
			  Number of cases 
			  Male Female Total 
		
		
			 2001 2,638 3,424 6,062 
			 2002 2,832 3,584 6,416 
			 2003 2,971 3,718 6,689 
		
	
	(27) Melanoma skin cancer is defined as code C43 in the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD10).
	Source:
	Office for National Statistics

Stationery

Vincent Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  if he will list the Department's main suppliers of (a) copier paper, (b) stationery, (c) envelopes and (d) paper for reports; and what the (i) name and (ii) recycled and post-consumer recycled content of each paper is;
	(2)  by what date his Department expects to implement in full the quick win targets set by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to ensure that (a) all copying paper bought by the Department is 100 per cent. recycled with a minimum of 75 per cent. post-consumer waste content and (b) all paper for printed publications bought by the Department is 60 per cent. recycled, of which a minimum is 75 per cent. post-consumer waste;
	(3)  what percentage of (a) paper for printed publications and (b) copying paper used by the Department in (i) 200304 and (ii) 200405 was from recycled sources; and how much post-consumer waste this paper contained.

John Healey: The main stationery suppliers for the Treasury and HM Revenue and Customs are set out in the following table.
	
		
			 Product Main supplier (i) Name (ii) Recycled and post-consumer content 
		
		
			 (a) Copier paper Banner Business Supplies Ltd. Evolve and Steinbeis 100 per cent. recycled with  100 per cent. post-consumer waste 
			 (b) Stationery Banner Business Supplies Ltd. Various differing products Varies by product 
			 (c) Envelopes Banner Business Supplies Ltd. Various differing products Varies by product 
			 (d) Paper for reports: HMRC Banner Business Supplies Ltd. Various differing products No information available 
			 (d) Paper for reports: Treasury Robert Horne Revive 75 per cent. recycled of which all  post-consumer waste 
		
	
	Both HM Treasury and HM Revenue and Customs have already met the Defra quick win target for copying paper. They use Evolve and Steinbeis recycled paper supplied by Banner, which is 100 per cent. recycled and 100 per cent. post consumer waste.
	HM Treasury aims to use Revive recycled paper (75 per cent. of which is made from 100 per cent. de-inked post-consumer waste) for all printed publications, and in 200405 approximately 65 per cent. of paper used in the Treasury's printed publications was Revive. Where Revive is not suitable, Crossbow is used. Crossbow contains a minimum of 20 per cent. recycled fibre. HM Treasury is working to further increase the recycled and post consumer waste content of its printed publications.
	HM Revenue and Customs have incorporated the Quick Win targets into their procurement policy and guidance and are moving forward in terms of printed publications. All of their contracts for printed publications make provision for the use of recycled paper or materials obtained from sustainable sources. They are liaising with other Government Departments to make the most effective use of contracts for recycled paper and working closely with their print suppliers and output handling teams to ensure that the move to recycled content does not impact on their ability to dispatch and process printed products. As part of their continuing review and corporate re-branding work they are also beginning to look at transferring project work areas such as the 2006 Employers Pack and P2 stationery to recycled content in line with the Quick Win target.
	HMRC and HMT are also developing a Sustainable Procurement Strategy which both HMT and HMRC will follow and which will form part of both Departments' new Sustainable Development Action Plan. HMT and HMRC's policy is to ensure paper is used economically and that recycled paper is used wherever it is practical and economic to do so.
	The available figures for past use of recycled paper are in the following table:
	
		
			 Product/Department 200304 200405 
		
		
			 Paper for printed publications   
			 HM Treasury Information not held Approximately 65 per cent. of paper used was Revive (75 per cent. of which is made from 100 per cent. post consumer waste). The remainder was Crossbow (20 per cent. of which is recycled) 
			 HM Revenue and Customs 1.3 per cent. from recycled sources 18.5 per cent. from recycled sources 
			
			 Copying paper   
			 HM Treasury 56 per cent. was recycled, containing 100 per cent. post consumer waste 97 per cent. was recycled, containing 100 per cent. post consumer waste 
			 HM Revenue and Customs 88 per cent. was recycled, containing 100 per cent. post consumer waste 98 per cent. was recycled, containing 100 per cent. post consumer waste

Wages

Peter Robinson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the (a) average wage and (b) median wage for (i) men and (ii) women has been in each year since 2001 in (A) Northern Ireland and (B) England.

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
	Letter from Karen Dunnell to Mr. Peter Robinson, dated 21 October 2005
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question what the (a) average wage and (b) median wage for (i) men and (ii) women has been in each year since 2001 in (A) Northern Ireland and (B) England. (19417)
	Currently average earnings are estimated from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), and are provided for full time employees on adult rates of pay whose pay was unaffected by absence during the pay period. This is the standard definition used for ASHE. The ASHE does not collect data on the self employed and people who do unpaid work.
	I attach a table showing the Average Gross Weekly Earnings for full time males and females in each year since 2001 for both England and Northern Ireland.
	The ASHE, carried out in April of each year, is the most comprehensive source of earnings information in the United Kingdom. It is a one per cent sample of all employees who are members of pay-as-you-earn (PAYE) schemes.
	
		Gross weekly pay for full-time employee jobs(28) -- 
		
			  Male Female 
			  England Northern Ireland England Northern Ireland 
		
		
			 Mean 
			 2001 509 419 373 324 
			 2002 534 432 394 342 
			 2003 551 448 407 356 
			 2004(29) 569 464 427 382 
			  
			 Median 
			 2001 422 362 319 290 
			 2002 437 371 336 300 
			 2003 452 382 346 309 
			 2004(29) 470 402 363 335 
		
	
	(28)Employees on adult rates whose pay for the survey pay-period was not affected by absence.
	(29)2004 including supplementary surveys designed to improve the coverage of ASHE.
	Source:
	Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, ONS.

VAT

Louise Ellman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the likely impact on (a) jobs and (b) the economy in the UK of the proposal to charge VAT on insurance-related services.

Ivan Lewis: HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) issued a consultation document on the proposed changes to the VAT exemption for insurance-related services in July, inviting comment from all interested parties. As part of the consultation, views were sought on the impact the changes were likely to have on UK industry and policyholders.
	The consultation exercise formally closed on 30 September and HMRC are currently evaluating the responses.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Winter Fuel Payment

David Mundell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will change the practice by which the winter fuel payment rebate is paid only to those whose birthday falls before September in the relevant year.

Stephen Timms: The qualifying week for winter fuel payments is the week commencing with the third Monday in September. This allows for the necessary checks to be carried out and for the majority of payments to be made automatically by Christmas fulfilling the commitment made by the Chancellor. There are no plans to change this practice.

Winter Fuel Payment

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will extend the winter fuel payment scheme to disabled people under the age of 65; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen Timms: Help is already available through the disability benefits and the disability premium in income support in recognition of the extra costs, including heating, which disabled people have. There are no plans to extend the winter fuel payment scheme to disabled people under age 65.

Winter Fuel Payment

John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will raise winter fuel payments in line with recent energy price increases.

Stephen Timms: We have no plans to do so. The payment has risen from 20 in winter 199798 to 200 from winter 200001. It is a significant contribution towards fuel costs.